News from Cornwall Labour

Cornwall must provide affordable homes for local people

Cornwall Labour Party has welcomed the government’s commitment to social housing and increased power for local authorities, reaffirmed by new Minister John Healey MP last week, and is pressing Cornwall Council to move quickly to take advantage of funding for affordable homes for local people.

Jude Robinson explained:

“There is a huge opportunity for Cornwall. There are almost 18,000 people on housing waiting lists in the county, nearly 3000 of them in the Camborne-Redruth area. On top of that are the 4000 households with serious maintenance problems and the thousands of people who are not on the waiting lists.

“The government is promising more local control of housing, more flexible funding and wants local government to be more involved with house building.

“What are we waiting for? Commercial developers are holding back because of the financial climate but the need for affordable homes is there. It is time to get stuck in and make sure that Cornwall takes full advantage of the opportunity to provide affordable homes for local people.”

John Healey MP, who has visited Cornwall recently in his role as Local Government Minister, said in his speech to the Chartered Institute of Housing:

“As we invest and act to give tenants a greater say in how their homes and neighbourhoods are run, we know people want us, their government and their councils, to make the allocations system seem fairer, to support young people struggling to get a start in work and to help them move more easily when they need to. And we will do more.

And as we invest and act in Britain to help tackle the catastrophe of global climate change, people look to us, their government, to do more to make their homes greener and cheaper to run. And we will do more.

This week the Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman said:

“I think the UK economy looks the best in Europe at the moment. I think the policies are intelligent”.

Other news from Cornwall Labour

• Conservative cuts to Sure Start "devastating" for Cornwall - 17 March 2010
• A fresh approach to Cornwall's waste management - 16 March 2010
• MacKenzie backs children's charities in Cornwall - 12 March 2010