David Hide, Chair of Horsham Labour, has written about the Liberal Democrats' ineffectiveness as an opposition party in this letter which was printed in today's West Sussex County Times.It would appear from your letters page last week that the Liberal Democrats have momentarily stirred from their customary torpor. What a shame that this phase of animation consisted only of a bizarre bout of self congratulation for a service that they were not responsible for providing, (Godfrey Newman 'Wardens do…') followed by a distribution of blame in all directions except their own, for council failure in areas where they represent residents at both County and District level. (Government must take responsibility too, Morwen Wilson.)
Morwen Wilson claims that the dilapidated state of Bryce Lodge is down to the lack of government funding given to housing associations. If Ms Wilson were better informed she would know that housing associations have delivered the greatest number of new homes of any sector over the last year, their ability to continue to deliver when private development has ground to a halt is largely due to the continued financial support received from the Government.
Not all housing associations are in a great financial state but plenty are and are actively looking for opportunities to work with councils to deliver more homes.
It is worth noting that of the millions of pounds recently made available by the Housing Minster, John Healey, to support the building of affordable homes, Horsham District Council failed to apply for a single penny.
Neither has Horsham District Council or the County Council taken advantage of the Government’s encouragement to sell land and property at below market rates for projects such as affordable housing that would benefit the community.
The Council has not taken time to consider another government initiative, Local Housing Companies, which develop partnerships between local authorities and private developers to enable affordable homes to be built on land owned by the Council.
The Liberal Democrats must surely bear the greatest responsibility, as the opposition Party on both the District and County Council, for their failure to put pressure on the Tory councils to deal with the housing issue and the dilapidation of District and County council assets such as Bryce Lodge, not to mention Brookfield in Blackbridge Lane.
The Liberal members may, as Morwen Wilson suggests, be 'keeping an eye' on these sites, admittedly quite a feat when one of their councillor’s observation point is in Hastings, but shouldn’t we expect our elected representatives to do more than just watch our council assets crumble away?
David Hide
Chair Horsham Labour Party