03/11/04 Give Swindon Tenants A Foot On The Housing Ladder

Action on housing pledged by Conservatives

Councillor Justin Tomlinson and Robert Buckland, the Conservative Parliamentary spokesmen for North and South Swindon, today backed new plans to extend home ownership in Swindon. New Conservative policies would mean extra support for ‘shared ownership’ schemes; allow social tenants to buy a stake in their home; and make it easier for housing associations to build more affordable housing. This will help those who currently cannot afford to get on the housing ladder.

Justin explained, “It is now increasingly difficult for residents in Swindon on modest incomes to buy their own home. I speak as someone who was first attracted to this area as a recent graduate by the availability of good housing.  Labour once promised they had ‘no plans to raise tax at all’; but their property taxes – such as council tax and stamp duty – have hit first time buyers. The average first time buyer in South West now pays an extra +£1,365 in stamp duty compared with 1997. Soaring council tax bills are a financial drain on top of that."

Robert added, “Social tenants have also lost out, with Right to Buy discounts being cut back for council house tenants. It seems the Government’s only policy on housing has been to be to impose unrealistic targets that mean councils have concrete over green fields, whilst missing the opportunity to regenerate our exiting stocks.  This Government, which has found money for three foreign wars since 1997, refuses to invest in British homes. On housing, as on everything else, Labour are all talk.”

Under the Conservative plans for Action on Housing:

·         Conservatives will promote and extend support for shared ownership schemes. Shared equity helps people buy their home of choice without having to fund 100 per cent of the value.

·         We will extend the Right to Buy to over a million housing association tenants, and reinvest the receipts from sales in new social housing (while recognising the need for some exemptions in small rural areas).

·         We will help social housing tenants purchase a home, not just their present property, through transferable discounts. Our new ‘Right to Own’ will allow tenants to build up a stake in their equity of their home.

·         We will reduce Labour’s disproportionate and excessive regulation and inspection of housing associations, and make it easier for them to work with private sector developers to build more affordable housing to buy and rent.

·         We will review housing regulation as a whole and the impact it is having on house building and the cost of new homes.

Robert concluded,