Tories Affordable Housing Strategy? “No help whatsoever to builders outside the South East of the County”

More than two years into a four year administration, Northumberland Conservatives gave the electorate its first glance at its affordable housing policy today, 06/08/2019. 

The Leader of Council, Peter Jackson who has been crowing about developing social housing for the last two years gave an interview to a local business publicity group. His interview has caused even more mayhem among the building trade across the County than the release of his ‘Local Plan’ the replacement for the removed core strategy that gave him the opportunity to get the Council to pay for his legal protection of almost £1M and halt all development outside of South East Northumberland.

Councillor Jackson statement was commented on by a well known builder from the West of the County who wishes to remain anonymous, believes as many of his cohorts do that the Councils Local Plan is politically driven and lacks the economic energy required for growth County-wide that builders and developers require to carry the Counties building trade workforce forward into the future.

He told us “the big statement in this interview from Councillor Farmer Jackson are the few words, ‘as part of the planning process' for builders outside the South East of Northumberland they are weasel words indeed“.

“What his statement means is most dwellings which are to be built are not going to be the much needed social housing and all the affordable homes will be built in the south east corner of the County as a percentage of new homes built. Councillor Jacksons local plan is designed around his belief there’s to be no building in the Countryside”.

“His local plan and now his affordable housing policy is politically designed to ensure projects like Dissington Garden Village, a massive infrastructure project that would have kept hundreds of tradesmen and women working for a decade and delivered twice as many affordable homes than his less than ambitious current plan would, can not raise its head again”.

“It’s another Jackson con that will shrink the rural economy and deliver Japanese levels of housing densities into Cramlington, Blyth and Bedlington yet his Local Plan doesn’t contain the infrastructure vision to manage such a population growth in a small geographical area ”.


Reference: https://bdaily.co.uk/articles/2019/08/06/first-glance-at-northumberland-county-councils-new-plans-for-affordable-housing-strategy