Housing estate

Speaking at a meeting of the Cabinet on New Forest District Council today, Councillor David Harrison, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat group, called for a much greater degree of urgency and more effective measures in tackling the rising problem of affordable homes in the New Forest area.

The Cabinet were considering a report by Auditors, who had highlighted the need for improvements in the area of housing needs. The problem has been getting worse in recent years due to a combination of factors, including a rising demand for new homes, planning constraints, affordability and an even tougher planning controls with the advent of the new National Park status.

Councillor Harrison told Conservative Cabinet members that “It would be entirely wrong to be too self-congratulatory about an otherwise good audit report when the long dark shadow of a housing crisis loomed over their heads” He pointed to the fact that the performance of the District Council in this area was in the bottom 25% of all authorities and the direction of travel clearly showed matters were worsening.

The Council Leader responded by suggesting that it was not helpful to label the housing problem as a crisis and this was just the same sort of language used by developers keen to build expensive homes.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr. Harrison said “It is a crisis, whatever the Leader says. It’s certainly a crisis to all the growing number of families in the area who have no permanent home and are living a day-to-day, bed and breakfast existence.

It’s also a crisis to all those young people who, often surrounded by expensive second homes, have no way of getting onto the housing ladder. In line with the District Auditors, the Lib Dems want to see more positive and effective action in this area. Declaring a “State of Housing Emergency” would prioritise this issue and enable Councillors of all political persuasion to urgently address the steps necessary to turn things around”.