Monthly Archives: May 2017

GENERAL ELECTION 2017: Full house? Examining the need for more housing in the UK

Posted on by
When broadsheets from different parts of the political spectrum agree then politicians often sit up and take notice. One of the most recent such examples was back in 2010 when the coalition government announced plans to sell off the UK’s publicly-owned forests. Both the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian mobilised, running campaigns against the plans.1 The result: a hasty government U-turn. Today, thankfully, the British public can continue to roam freely in our public forests.

So when the Guardian and the Times found common cause last month it was noteworthy. The Guardian, left of centre and liberal, tends to interpret political issues very differently to the more right wing, and Murdoch-owned, Times, with the two rarely agreeing on anything.

The issue in question was housing building policy. On 7 April the Times ran a series of articles protesting against the increasing ownership of British homes for speculative investment, rather than as places to live. London and the southeast are the prime targets, but investors also have their sights set on other parts of the country. The newspaper reported that of the 282 flats in Manchester’s new Cambridge Street development, only two are being lived in by British owners.2 Most of the remainder have been bought up by overseas investors. Many are empty, as the costs and risks of renting the property are often not worth it for owners. The Times editorial leader of 7 April makes clear where it believes responsibility lies for fixing this problem: central government should levy taxes on overseas investors buying property for investment; and local councils need to take action against those who buy flats and leave them empty.3

The Guardian ran a similar series of articles some two years ago, including evidence that many luxurious flats in London are unoccupied, with the middle classes being squeezed out of central London to the increasingly more expensive suburbs. Last month the Guardian was quick to agree with the Times, citing a study from conservative think tank The Bow Group,4 which concluded in 2015 that a ‘global elite’ of investors is fuelling housing demand in the UK, leading to rampant house price inflation. The Bow Group conclude that ‘building more houses, despite being the solution most widely touted, is not the answer to the UK’s housing crisis’.5 The answer instead is tight regulation of entry to the UK housing market for financial investors, with owner-occupier demand treated separately to investment demand.

In Canterbury and surrounding villages we have been told constantly by many of our elected representatives that we ‘have no choice’ but to build more houses. Yet a key conservative think tank with open lines of communication to the government makes it clear that there is no evidence for this. Should the Mountfield development go ahead one has to wonder how many of the houses will be snapped up and left empty by overseas investors, rather than going to those with a social or economic stake in our community.

So just over a week ago we wrote to the four candidates for the Canterbury and Whitstable constituency, which covers the Mountfield area. They are Julian Brazier (Conservative), Rosie Duffield (Labour), James Flanagan (Liberal Democrats) and Henry Stanton (Green). We asked them three questions:

  1. Would you support measures from either central or local government to restrict home ownership by investors who then leave the homes empty?
  2. Specifically, what measures would you support? (One option is higher taxation of overseas investors buying property, similar to the 15% tax imposed by Canada and Singapore.)
  3. Do you support the proposed judicial review of the Mountfield housing development?

So far none of the candidates have replied. But watch this space; because if they do we will let you know.

UPDATE: On 1st June 2017 we did receive a reply from Sir Julian Brazier. You can read that reply here

References

  1. See for example or example: Daily Telegraph 29 October 2010; Daily Telegraph 22 January 2011; Guardian 5 November 2010.
  2. ConserveBridge cannot provide the hyperlinks for these articles, which are available behind pay walls. The articles in question are: Andrew Ellson and Gabriella Swerling, ‘Nearly 300 flats – and just two are occupied by British owners’, Times, 7 April 2017, p.9. In the same edition of the Times: Andrew Ellson, Gabriella Swerling and Alastair Benn, ‘Foreigners dominate market for new homes’, p.1.
  3. Times leading article, ‘Empty promises: councils have to stop foreigners buying up new-build flats and leaving them empty. They are being put out of the reach of first time buyers’, 7 April 2017, p.29.
  4. Deborah Orr, ‘It’s no longer just London: Now Britain is encircled by the property sharks, Guardian, 8 April 2017, p.37.
  5. Daniel Rossall Valentine and The Bow Group, Solving the UK housing Crisis: An analysis of the investment demand behind the UK’s housing affordability crisis, November 2015, p.4.

Neighbourhood Plan

Posted on by

The Bridge Neighbourhood Plan Committee has hired AECOM, a construction and management consultancy firm, to carry out a Strategic Environmental Assessment scoping report. The purpose of this exercise is to identify the extent, and level of detail, of information to be included in the environmental report that will be used to consider the sustainability of the Bridge Neighbourhood Plan. This includes biodiversity, heritage and landscape issues. The draft report can be found here. This has been sent to the statutory consultees, namely the Environment Agency, Natural England and Historic England. Please make your views known. If you have comments please address them in writing to the Clerk to the Parish Council by 16 June 2017. The Clerk can be contacted by email at clerk@bridgevillage.org.uk or by letter to 47 High St, Bridge CT4 5JZ.

Green Gap

Posted on by

ConserveBridge has received a copy of the letter sent by the Bridge Parish Council Chair to Canterbury City Council for the housing inspector, as called for by the public at the Annual Parish Meeting in April. The letter (attached here with email addresses deleted) makes clear that the Chair’s earlier letter of 24 April requesting a reduction of the Green Gap between Bridge and Canterbury was not sent with the approval of Bridge Parish Council. You can find the original letter here. We thank the Parish Chair for clarifying this, and are pleased that the record has finally been set straight on this important matter for the village.

Adults in the room: Bridge Parish Council responds to the Annual Parish Meeting

Posted on by

Amongst the new books to appear in Waterstones’ Canterbury branch this week is the latest offering from Yanis Varoufakis, the Greek finance minister who opposed the imposition of harsh austerity measures on his country, much to the annoyance of the international financial elite. Eventually in Washington Varoufakis was asked point blank by Larry Summers, one of the high priests of the global economy; do you want to be on the inside or the outside? Summers said that outsiders prioritise their right to speak freely, but doing so loses support from the ‘insiders’. The insiders will shut out those who do not subscribe to the pre-existing consensus, defending their right (as they see it) to make the important decisions. “The key to such power networks is exclusivity and opacity”, writes Varoufakis in his book Adults in the Room: My Battle with Europe’s Deep Establishment (Bodley Head Publishing, £20.00).

We will return to Varoufakis below; but first here is an overview of the main outcomes from this week’s Parish Council meeting (Thursday. 11 May).

Chairmanship: The incumbent Chair, Alan Atkinson, was re-elected. He continues to enjoy the confidence of a sizable majority of the council, with 7 of 9 councillors voting for him. However, he no longer enjoys unanimous support, with Councillor Paul Ferguson, standing as a “stalking horse” candidate, attracting two votes. It remains to be seen what, if anything, this small shift in the barometer of support will signify.

Green Gap: The Chair announced that he had written to the Housing Inspector regarding his unauthorised letter of 20 March requesting an amendment of the Green Gap between Bridge and Canterbury. He made an assurance to make public his latest letter which, he said, dealt with ‘the facts’ (although it is not clear at this stage what this means).

Neighbourhood Plan: The current draft contains plans to build in the two areas confirmed by the Inspector as conservation areas: the Brickfields and the Green Gap. The Council debated the motion passed at the Annual Parish Meeting of 27 April: that the Neighbourhood Plan be suspended pending adoption of the Canterbury District Local Plan. Councillors Paul Davies, Paldeep Dhillon and Paul Ferguson voted to respect this publicly-approved motion. With four votes against and two abstentions the result was a decision to overturn the APM motion. The Chair stated that the intention was for the Neighbourhood Plan to be completed around about September.

Cantley: Two matters of interest arose. First, it is now apparent that on 30 June 2015 Cantley proposed two possible sites for house building in the village: in the Green Gap; and land to the east of Conyngham Lane. Yet only the Green Gap site, favoured by some councillors, was presented to the village during the consultations of autumn 2015. Why was this? Second, Cantley wrote to the Parish Council on 20 April 2017 stating it wishes to sell land between the recreation ground and the A2 with planning permission for housing. Should this proposal not go ahead, Cantley wishes to build near Great Pett Farm.

Mountfield: The Council made the welcome decision to donate £1000 to the fund for a judicial review of the proposed Mountfield development.

Neighbourhood Plan Group Membership: With half the members of the NPG having resigned in recent weeks the suggestion was made to expand the membership. Councillor Paul Ferguson volunteered to serve on the group, noting his wide experience as a lawyer in dealing with planning regulation and his commitment to Bridge as a village. With the Parish Council evenly divided on his offer (4 votes for, 4 against, 1 abstention) the rules gave the casting vote to the Chair, who blocked the offer. It was pointed out that Councillor Ferguson could attend the Neighbourhood Plan Group meetings, but not participate in discussions. Adults in the room?

This was Mr Ferguson’s second meeting as a parish councillor, and he will have felt welcome by many of his colleagues. But on two or three occasions he faced hostility, with heckling and some openly disrespectful comments.  Councillor Ferguson was treated in a similar way to Mr Varoufakis in Washington: as an interloper. His is a voice that some clearly wish to silence. Is there room for insider-outsider distinctions on a council of nine? All councillors should have the right to speak without fear or favour, and offers of help should be welcomed.

As things stand, it seems likely that the Neighbourhood Plan will be completed as soon as possible (with the draft commitments to build on the Brickfields and on the Green Gap remaining) before consideration can be given to the Cantley proposals made public this week.

ConserveBridge notes again that the city is not looking to Bridge for new housing allocations and we reiterate our opposition to all new housing in our Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. We thank all those who serve the village, and call upon all members of the Parish Council to find a way to collaborative productively for the common good of the community and to preserve the integrity of Bridge as a rural village.

Bridge Parish Council Meeting

Posted on by

Cantley has contacted the Parish Council stating that it wishes to build houses between the village and the A2, opposite the recreation ground. If this proposal does not go ahead, Cantley wishes to build near Great Pett Farm. It is understood that this message was sent on 20 April, but not announced publicly until the Parish Council meeting of 11 May. At a busy Parish Council meeting it was also announced that Chairman Alan Atkinson has written to the local Housing Inspector regarding his letter requesting an amendment of the Green Gap. For a full report on the Parish Council meeting of 11 May see Adults in the room: Bridge Parish Council responds to the Annual Parish Meeting.