Letters

HOST OF HOUSING PROBLEMS TO ADDRESS

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25 May 2012

Your analysis of the Southwark Council housing policy in your editorial last week highlights a number of problems which might occur in the provision of a positive Council housing policy in the Borough.

In an article published earlier this year Cllr Wingfield (Cabinet Member for Housing) told us two things – first that the Council was reluctant to back more right-to-buy lease schemes if promoted by Central Government as it would mean less units available for prospective tenants on the waiting list, but he made no mention of the funds received from leasehold sales being ploughed back into new Council housing developments.

Secondly, in the same article, Cllr Wingfield suggests that that there “isn’t enough land available in Southwark to build on” followed by a statement that a senior officer is drawing up a report to be presented by the end of February (presumably 2012) but this does not seem to have been published.

So how is the Council proposing to resolve the conflict between whether there is space for new build Council houses and who is eligible to live in them? Possibly the article “thousand new Council homes” (on page 5) has a key to an answer but it is vague.

One other problem for Council management is the wilful neglect of its housing stock over many years (reaching back before this administration), which has contributed to the deterioration in the quality of the buildings and excessive maintenance costs which are a huge burden on all residents.   

Finally, your editorial highlights the problems which might arise for the social fabric of the community by creating selective not community developments if this is a part of the master plan.

John Nosworthy, Rotherhithe, by email.

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