Minister answers his critics over need for more homes (From Basingstoke Gazette)
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Minister answers his critics over need for more homes
2:00pm Saturday 13th February 2010 in
THOUSANDS of new homes are needed in Basingstoke and Deane to enable those on low incomes to afford one, according to a Government minister.
In an exclusive interview with The Gazette, Jonathan Shaw MP, minister for south east England, responded to the repeated attacks by councillors about the “top-down imposition” of housing targets, and the need for more support to deliver infrastructure.
The Government has told Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council to allocate enough land for developers to build 945 homes a year – 18,900 homes between 2006 and 2026.
Mr Shaw said: “There are 1,762 households in Basingstoke and Deane on the housing waiting list. That’s 2.6 per cent of total households. There is a demand for more homes.”
The minister explained the figure for the number of homes needed had been produced from projections of population growth and demand, and the figure 945 “isn’t hugely different” to that produced by independent inspectors. The independent analysis had proposed 820 homes per year.
He also pointed out there were 1,302 new homes delivered in the borough in the 2008-09 financial year.
“The numbers have been arrived at by very careful considerations. It isn’t our desire to impose anything that isn’t achievable and we will review it over a 20-year period,” said Mr Shaw.
“I don’t know what the circumstances will be in 20 years but we do know people need somewhere to live. I do recognise it is a sensitive issue and it is important the Government maintains discussions with councils such as Basingstoke and Deane.”
Some councillors have said that if the borough is to take the proposed levels of development, tens of millions of pounds in Government funding will be needed to provide infrastructure.
As a designated “growth point” in the South-East, Basingstoke and Deane has so far received £6.5million from the Government, which has been allocated to studies into water and transport infrastructure, and to plans to regenerate Basing View.
Mr Shaw said developer contributions would provide some funding for infrastructure, and added: “We will have a road programme which there will be funding for, and if you look at the transport investment across the south east it’s been considerable.”
As the council seeks places to put the new homes, a three-way battle has emerged between those defending fields east and west of Basingstoke and those seeking to prevent housing being crammed into the town itself.
Mr Shaw acknowledged the environmental concerns, saying: “We need to get a balance between ensuring there are enough homes and also protecting the countryside, and that is why 60 per cent of the new development should be on brownfield land.”
Comments(29)
basingstoketown
says...
4:36pm Sat 13 Feb 10
'For those that cannot pay their rent we need custom facilities like hostels, homes and work houses'
It sounds like a return to Victorian Britain with its poor houses..you can make up your own minds though...
I thought that we were a civilised, tolerant society I may have been mistaken.
'We must end the stupidity of giving council homes to scroungers, benefit cheats and single mothers ahead of hard working families on low incomes'
Some of the worst behaved children I have come across have come from supposedly 'middle class' or 'better' backgrounds. Society itself has to change and its values - you cannot target a social group and discard them 'en masse'. What about the mother whose husband leaves her - through no fault of her own she is single.
We DO need to root out benefit cheats but you cannot say you will not house someone, especially when you have MP's ripping the state off anyway.
'Working for a living should not be a handicap - it should be rewarded'
Very true and I wholeheartedly agree there - but no one should be left behind either. It is the foundation of a modern civilised society.
Leslie_Stoker
says...
4:49pm Sat 13 Feb 10
basingstoketown
says...
5:15pm Sat 13 Feb 10
I understand your sentiments, but may I put this to you. I have lived in many houses around Basingstoke and some of the nicest people I have met have been on benefits and some of the most arrogant and horrid have been those who work. What about the carers who do a valiant job looking after their loved ones for pittance, if we paid them a living wage it would cost the state billions. You cannot tarnish all with the same brush.
You are advocating the start of a class war against the 'have-nots' in society once you go down that route.
king_of_basingstoke
says...
6:16pm Sat 13 Feb 10
basingstoketown
says...
8:08pm Sat 13 Feb 10
Bring on the Poor Laws and the workhouses.This is what you are voting for with the Tories....
Class warfare on an unprecedented scale - pray that you never fall into poverty
Town Crier
says...
9:15am Sun 14 Feb 10
**
Sadly these are lacking and if they do pop up there's a dozen Eastern Europeans with no commitments who will work for less, and employers who'll willingly take them on.
**
What employers will take on people who have been 'without work' for any length of time, or those with any kind of health problem? Yeah, none.
**
It's so difficult to fit into such a controlled society now. Living on benefits is their only option!
**
It's easy to criticise when you have a comfy job, but those types of jobs are few and far between now.
basingstoketown
says...
12:06pm Sun 14 Feb 10
Well said and it just shows beneath the high blown Cameroon rhetoric what the Tories truly think. If the Tories are elected in prepare for a return to Victorian Poor Law principles
basingstoketown
says...
12:10pm Sun 14 Feb 10
Well said and it just shows beneath the high blown Cameroon rhetoric what the Tories truly think. If the Tories are elected in prepare for a return to Victorian Poor Law principles
basingstoketown
says...
12:53pm Sun 14 Feb 10
When Rishi started to focus on the party’s digital content around three years ago, he said there was only one other person involved.
“We now have eight digital specialists working full-time, and we probably produce between 15 to 20 pieces of original content a day, as opposed to 15 to 20 pieces a year,” said Rishi. “Hundreds of thousands now connect with us via our email, by Facebook, by Twitter or by YouTube.”
Rishi explained that technology allows organisations and companies to be able to target their audiences more effectively.
“Digital is becoming a much bigger part of our advertising portfolio, because it helps to minimise waste, and we are targeting the right people in the right way,” he said.
This event was hosted by Maria Miller.
It is another example of Tory expediency.
basingstoketown
says...
6:25pm Mon 15 Feb 10
basingstoketown
says...
6:27pm Mon 15 Feb 10
ChinehamIan
says...
6:29pm Tue 16 Feb 10
Basingstoke does NOT need more homes. The sooner these morons in government are voted out the better. Roll on May 2010.
ChinehamIan
says...
6:32pm Tue 16 Feb 10
How many of these 1,762 are immigrants ? How many are benefit scroungers ? Enough is enough. There is only a demand for more homes because this wretched government has let far too many people into the country and created a "benefit culture" over the past 13 yrs.
basingstoketown
says...
7:30pm Tue 16 Feb 10
as you put it?
Of course there were - before the Tories start claiming a monopoly on the immigration issue - who took us into Europe? Who signed the Maastricht Treaty? The Tories, so you would still have the Eastern Europeans here unless the Tories were going to somehow get us out of Europe. 2 points with this though - do you think the Tory Europhiles would see this happen?
We would still have to adhere to European legislation but with NO power or influence over their creation.
ChinehamIan
says...
7:51pm Tue 16 Feb 10
GC31
says...
9:39pm Tue 16 Feb 10
GC31
says...
11:24am Wed 17 Feb 10
basingstoketown
says...
10:25am Thu 18 Feb 10
This is the height of mismanagement especially when the neighbouring Marnel Park has almost been completed.
guywithsomesense
says...
11:58am Thu 18 Feb 10
You'll notice that this website is plagued with Labour supporters (cllrs) trying anything to cling on to a few votes,.. this country is on it's knees,... Labour have built us a society in which the hard working poeple are taxed to death and the benefit scrounging layabouts are rewarded.
BasingstokeTown gives us pathetic statements on 'if the Tories get in',.. er..., this country is in a complete mess thanks to the last 13years of LABOUR,.. please roll on May and get rid of these Labour imbeciles!
basingstoketown
says...
6:39pm Thu 18 Feb 10
I am neither a Labour councillor (although I wish I was) or layabout ( I work very hard for what I have) - but who destroyed the manufacturing base of this country under Thatcher - the TORIES, who gave us POLL TAX, who destroyed the coal mining communities to the extent that we have to import coal when there is sufficient coal under Britain?
Who destroyed this countries shipbuilding industry. Do not lecture me on what Labour have done or not done.
You mentioned 'benefit scroungers', are you saying that CARERS are benefit scroungers and if so, how will you Tories suggest we finance the work that these valuable members of society do? If we paid them the going rate it would cost us billions.
It wouldn't matter who was in government now, because we do not manufacture anything and become a credit driven economy we are on a persistent economic knife edge. You cannot sustain a credit boom when you have nothing to pay for it. That is the legacy Thatchers Britain left us with.
basingstoketown
says...
7:08pm Thu 18 Feb 10
ChinehamIan
says...
8:08pm Thu 18 Feb 10
basingstoketown
says...
10:17pm Thu 18 Feb 10
And after seeing what a mess the Tories have got themselves into over trivial issues such as:
1) Lord Ashcroft
2) Zac Goldsmith
3) Marriage Allowances
4) Elite Schools
5) Their bloggers here saying they want poorhouses or workhouses for the less well off in society.
6) Combining with the Ulster Unionists and isolating Sinn Fein
7) Maria Miller NOT commenting on a school closure in BASINGSTOKE.
8) This farce involving Phil Heath and the mayoralty in Basingstoke
9) Backtracking over cuts to public expenditure
10) Promising a referendum on Europe and then reneging on it - after condemning Labour for doing the same thing......
Should I go on...let us have this debate then...I don't run and hide unlike the Tories
GC31
says...
11:10pm Thu 18 Feb 10
guywithsomesense
says...
12:49pm Fri 19 Feb 10
The references to Margaret Thatcher are pointess? someone who was in power 20 years ago? and it not the leader of the Tories now..?? it's absolutely irrelevant.... your failing attempt to put across any kind of argument is getting more rediculous,
we're talking about NOW,. and NOW labour are bringing this country to it's knees....
Also, how on earth did you get that I said CARERS are benefits scroungers?? of course they are not? I made no mention of that what so ever,... the scroungers I mention are people who sit at home all day with no intention of ever working what so ever,.. the sort of people who are reaping the failings of Labour,...
basingstoketown
says...
2:54pm Fri 19 Feb 10
These are your words:
'Labour have built us a society in which the hard working poeple are taxed to death and the benefit scrounging layabouts are rewarded.'
This comment could be perceived to mean anyone who claims benefits - even those on Working Families Tax Credit and carers...etc etc.
The Margaret Thatcher comment is very valid - we do not manufacture anything of substance now and most of the heavy industry this country did have was destroyed by the Tories. You can try and hide the facts but it doesn't work.
You and GC31 have not commented on or are trying to avoid the poorhouse/workhouse comments made by other right wing bloggers about the working classes.
You haven't commented on Lord Ashcroft, is he or isn't he a full UK taxpayer - even George Young did not know.
What about Cameron's proposed elite schools.
What about Cameron backtracking over marriage allowances, a referendum on Europe (he decried Labour for doing the same thing) and his backtracking over public expenditure cuts?
Do you believe Maria Miller should comment about Chineham Park School?
Do you think Merton Rise should be left as waste ground for travellers to use as a playground when the infrastructure is in place? How much does it cost each night to keep the area lit and did the taxpayer fork out for the said infrastructure to be put in place?
What are your answers to these questions?
ChinehamIan
says...
2:02pm Mon 22 Feb 10
Should I go on...let us have this debate then...I don't run and hide unlike the Tories
You can't be serious !?!?? LOLOL. talk about pot and kettle.
ChinehamIan
says...
2:04pm Mon 22 Feb 10
'Labour have built us a society in which the hard working poeple are taxed to death and the benefit scrounging layabouts are rewarded.'
Totally agree.....as well as the immigrants rewarded too. The sonner they are OUT the better...roll on May.
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king_of_basingstoke says...
2:41pm Sat 13 Feb 10
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As things stand no Council in their right mind would ever want to build Council Houses again when, in many cases, it is their own benefits section having to cover the rent and tax. In effect it pays itself and makes nothing for the pleasure.
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Social Housing should come with a requirement for the tenant (unless over 65) to pay the full rent. We must end the stupidity of giving council homes to scroungers, benefit cheats and single mothers ahead of hard working families on low incomes. Working for a living should not be a handicap - it should be rewarded. At the moment there are many people who could rightly be called the dregs of society housed at the cost of decent people in the borough. Often it is their kids running the streets causing anti-social behaviour. This madness must stop because we have fear we may 'offend' someone. Big deal.
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For those that cannot pay their rent we need custom facilities like hostels, homes and work houses.
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'Affordable housing my backside - sort out the Social Housing FIRST'