Letter to Editor: “If I was Labour, I would keep very quiet about their housing record”

Politics / Tue 15th Mar 2022 at 10:40am

Dear Sir,

Council Rents

I AM sure many council tenants will recall the annual 1% reduction in their rent for the four years between 2016 and 2019, when inflation was between 1% and 2.5%.

Whilst obviously this was good news for tenants, it did mean the council had less money to spend on investing in the safety of its buildings. This month, for example, the council is awarding contracts totalling £1.283M on fire safety works for Brenthall Towers and Stort Tower. Fire safety is a major priority for us all following the dreadful events at Grenfell Tower.

The need for more money to invest in housing was made worse when Labour ‘lost’ £3.5M from the sale of council houses. This money was paid to the government because Labour could not organise any house building in the previous three years. They also wasted a further £1.13M on fees on housing schemes they abandoned.

If I was Labour, I would keep very quiet about their housing record.

Yours

Simon Carter (Cllr)

4 Comments for Letter to Editor: “If I was Labour, I would keep very quiet about their housing record”:

Nicholas Taylor

2022-03-15 12:23:53

Simon, bearing in mind that only about 30% of the homes in Harlow are Council owned, you really are trying to pull the wool over the eyes of readers who are not Council tenants. It was the Tory Government which instructed Councils that they had to reduce rents, which of course meant that every Council including Harlow had to reduce expenditure on the maintenance of its housing stock and change its long term investment programme. At some stage the situation had to be re-addressed and that is why there have been bigger increases since. As for the Council having to return money from the sale of Council houses, you know only to well that the main reason for that is the straight jacket placed on Councils by the Tory Government when Councils tried to build . Despite the Tory rhetoric, only one council home is being built for every seven sold across the country. Nicholas Taylor, Leader of the Harlow Alliance Party and Honorary Member of the Charted Institute of Housing (Qualified and 51 years membership)

Nostradamus

2022-03-15 15:19:48

Agree with Nicholas: and Simon stop mud slinging and sort out the mess you and other Cllrs over the years have made playing party ya boo politics. It's time Cllrs addressed the need to provide the decent homes as in the Gibberd plan and a high quality low crime zero congestion eco friendly environment instead of toeing party lines. Currently we are faced with tower blocks, a trashed Stort Valley, increasing congestion, and being a conduit for all the downsides associated with the hggt pfp Gilston Estate development. Instead of blaming each other tory and Labour should put their puerile squabbles aside, see that Harlow has been suckered by East Herts and start working to improve the quality of life here: it's not a problem that's going to be solved by a non sustainable transport plan, nor high density hi rise future slum buildings, nor in filling green spaces. Take a look at Sir Fred's book Town Design for principles and learn, add new tec and use architecture that reflects the character of Essex villages. (Post war materials were in short supply hence the experimental and sometimes quite dreadful brutalistic style of building exteriors)

Kevin

2022-03-16 04:34:36

The council still manages to keep putting the rents up on garages in Harlow now about £ 58 month absolute disgrace considering they never want to maintain them, doors pealing, locks broken and roofs leaking and all they do is palm you off when you complain. But instead of renting them out at a sensible cost they would rather have them sit empty

Kim Oconnor

2022-03-19 20:28:15

I've noticed, that conservatives shouldn't keep quite how many true council houses there truly building. Building housing association and telling people there council. 99 council this week you conservatives said your building, pitiful amount in comparison to thousands of unaffordable. Is it, is it thou truly thinking of people and future generations.