At the moment local politicos avoid contact with me in case it evokes the kiss of death to their political careers; even long-term friends have said “No offence John but.....” so it came has a bit of a surprise when Councillor Mervyn Thomas came knocking at my door, at first I thought, wrongly, to offer me the position of Chairman, or at least vice-chair, of the local Conservatives Party (that evokes so many wicked thoughts!) but it was not to be, not even a membership offer which was, slightly, ego-deflating. Instead Mervyn wanted to discuss his proposals for affordable housing for local first-time buyers (what about the Secretary’s job?).
Mervyn has put forward a proposal that I blogged about months ago and one that I fully endorse. Locally first-time buyers are finding it harder and harder to get on the property ladder, housing costs and mortgages lenders being the main obstacle. Mervyn’s proposal is that the Council give away building land on a 999 lease, a sub-contractor, that he has sourced, builds 2 and 3 bed roomed houses that are then sold to local people only, the houses, costing between £70-80,000, come with certain restrictions attached, they cannot be sold for a number of years and if and when they are they can only be sold at a certain percentage of profit to other local people. There are other certain legalities attached that have to be thrashed out but, in principle, a very good idea that would be of immense benefit. Mervyn has promised to keep me in the loop with what happens to his proposal which he intends to see out to the very end, even if that means standing for another turn of office (that blows one of my predictions out of the water).
I shall, of course, keep you all informed of Mervyn’s progress, ......now, about the Treasurer’s job.....?
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3 comments:
you are obviously not as valuable to the Tories as that Champagne Socialist, Dr John Marek.
At least 90k for one of the affordable houses that the galloping major is suggesting.
The problem is the implementation of 'Right to Buy'. Although I can see how Thatcher brought it in, in order to reduce the size of government, however it has led to the lack of housing locally.
The trick these days is to try and force some 'affordable homes' as a condition for allowing development of a housing estate. Many developers justify ruining places just to supply commuter and other transients with a luxury house, on the promise of 10% affordable houses for locals.
What often happens, is that the plot of land sought by the developers or in their possession is too good to put some cheap houses on it, so they get away with 100% luxury houses (or unaffordable for locals) and give the council the money to build the required number of affordable houses elsewhere in the county.
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