MP supports plans for affordable housing (From Witney Gazette)

MP supports plans for affordable housing

9:00am Wednesday 29th March 2006 in Witney By Andrew Alexander

DAVID Cameron has defended proposals for more affordable housing to help people in areas like West Oxfordshire get on to the housing ladder.

Denying making a U-turn on previous Conservative policy which included a manifesto pledge to 'call a halt to Labour's plans to concrete over our green fields' the Witney MP and party leader said: "In West Oxfordshire, like many parts of the country, housing is becoming increasingly unaffordable for young people.

"I have young people coming to my surgeries saying look, I work hard and earn a reasonable amount of money, but buying somewhere is completely out of the question. So I think the idea of more shared ownership is a good one."

"It's not a U-turn. I said throughout the leadership election we have to consider how we're going to provide starter homes and eco-friendly homes, so that more people can follow their dreams of home ownership."

Meeting first-time buyers in London on Monday, Mr Cameron described the current situation as 'bananas'.

He said: "I say it's bananas because one of the problems we've faced is a system that encourages people to believe we should build absolutely nothing anywhere near anything."

"I have young people coming to my surgeries saying look, I work hard and earn a reasonable amount of money, but buying somewhere is completely out of the question. So I think the idea of more shared ownership is a good one."

David Cameron MP

Colin Fowler, of the Witney Society, a local branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: "In my opinion, his ideas about development are bananas.

"It's giving carte blanche to developers to build on greenfield sites, when we want more on brownfield sites, development in towns and villages, where there is space to do it."

The MP said he is opposed to plans for 47,200 homes which are to be built across Oxfordshire by 2026, because they come from the South East England Regional Assembly (Seera). The majority of those houses are destined for Didcot, Bicester, Wantage, and Grove.

He told the Witney Gazette: "The current way of doing things is top-down by an unelected body, which nobody wants. We want there to be more local decision making.

"We do need to have the infrastructure before the building. That's part of the problem in areas like West Oxfordshire."

West Oxfordshire District Council has built 160 affordable homes in the last year, and 600 in the last five years. For developments in rural areas of more than two homes, the council asks the developer to make half of the properties affordable.

Hilary Hibbert-Biles, the councillor in charge of housing, said: "Affordable housing has always been our priority. We live in a very expensive area, and it's difficult for young people and families to get onto the ladder. We do better than the other districts in the county, and we're always trying to do more."

New affordable homes available this year include those on the site once occupied by the Parker Knoll furniture factory, Chipping Norton, where there will be 30 homes for rent, ten for shared ownership, and 13 discount market housing.