News from Westminster Labour

Westminster Labour blasts Tory housing strategy: those in need ignored

Westminster Council’s Housing Renewal Strategy, hailed by the Conservative Council as a new attempt to renew neighbourhoods, will provide little relief for those 4,500 families living in overcrowded or temporary accommodation or the 100 living in Bed and Breakfast hotels, according to Labour Councillors. Labour says that the Conservative strategy is a mixture of social engineering initiatives that are designed to exclude families in housing need.

The flagship element of the Conservatives’ new housing policy is to encourage “a mix of communities” by providing more 1 bedroom flats at a subsidised rents for single working people who do not currently live in Westminster. However the evidence clearly shows that Wards like Church Street (with 40% mixed tenures and a diverse community), Harrow Road (with 30% mixed tenures and a diverse community), Westbourne (35% mixed tenures and a diverse community) are already areas of mixed and diverse communities.

Even more alarming is the objective of the Leader of the Council and the Cabinet Member for Housing to change the law and remove security of tenure for council tenants and to increase council rents to the level of private rents which mean that council rents would double.

Harrow Road Ward Councillor Guthrie McKie, Labour Housing Spokesperson said;

“The Conservatives on Westminster Council have reverted to type. They are going back to the bad old days of Shirley Porter. They just cannot resist trying to socially engineer communities. Their plans will exacerbate social tensions in areas of housing need. Public money is being used as part of this experiment when it should be used to provide more homes for those in housing need. This will just increase the polarisation between rich and poor and lead to greater social division. Labour Councillors will fight to ensure that social rented housing is made available throughout Westminster and that public money should, as a first priority, be used to build more housing for those in the greatest need.”

Other news from Westminster Labour

• Westminster Council joint bottom of London league for Adult Social Care - 6 February 2012
• Westminster Labour calls for an 'outbreak of democracy' over election of new council Leader - 2 February 2012
• West End Commission – open letter to Westminster's Chief Executive - 21 January 2012