LIB DEM SLAMS COUNCIL’S “ASSISTED PURCHASE” SCHEME

Lib Dem councillor, Jeffrey Gray (Whyteleafe) has criticised a scheme run by Tory-controlled Tandridge District Council to offer up to £20,000 to council tenants to persuade them to move out of their council houses. Over £250,000 of tax payers’ money has been set aside to fund this scheme over the next five years.

Cllr Gray, who spoke out against the scheme at a Housing Committee meeting on January 29th said: “I was very interested to read the article on the front page of The Times newspaper on Saturday February 7th. It seems that my anxiety about these types of scheme is shared by many people up and down the country and is beginning to cause something of a scandal.”
He continued: “I told the Housing Committee last Thursday that I am totally opposed to its scheme to bribe people to move out of council houses. I well understand the temptation, given the dwindling council house stock and the growing demand, a demand that will be fuelled by the current economic crisis. But the fact is that the shortage has been created by the policy of selling off council housing and not reinvesting in the stock and the situation is made worse by the government’s policy of forcing us to surrender a large proportion of our rent receipts, depriving us of the opportunity to reinvest. There is no way we should be playing along with this and with the gradual demise of council housing in our district and elsewhere. We should be using every last penny to enhance our stock, not using it to prise people out.”
Cllr Gray is suggesting three alternative ways of spending the £50,000 earmarked for the scheme over the next year: “I would like to offer the following options:

• A programme of expenditure on council house paths, driveways, fences and boundaries. Surveys show that growing numbers of tenants are dissatisfied with these aspects of their estate.
• Expenditure to refurbish council houses earmarked for sale to housing associations, so that they can be retained as part of the council’s stock.
• A change of heart on Tory plans to impose above inflation increases on Meals on Wheels and other services used by hard-pressed tenants and residents in the year ahead.”

Cllr Gray concluded: “Any combination of these options would be preferable to spending tax payers’ money on bribes. I shall be using the council meeting on February 19th to argue this case.”