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Give first-time buyers a chance
2:11pm Tuesday 15th January 2008
Comments (14)BASILDON is falling drastically short of housing targets, leaving the district's first-time buyers with little hope of getting on the property ladder.
Since 2001, the council has consistently failed to meet the Government target of building 535 new homes a year, managing an average of 255.
Now an independent report suggests the council sets up a "local housing company" to speed up the building of new homes.
It says a council-run firm could get funds together quicker than private housing associations, allowing it to speed up the building of new homes and the revamping of estates.
The report also says there is a need for more upmarket housing to attract wealthier outsiders to boost the local economy.
The council-commissioned report, states: "There are now significant affordability barriers. Entry-level house prices are approximately eight times the earnings of someone trying to get on the ladder."
The report, by consultants GVA Grimley, also claimed 45 per cent of those people not already on the ladder could not afford to purchase the cheapest houses - while 30 per cent cannot even afford to rent.
It stated: "Future provision of affordable housing must provide people with the opportunity of a decent home which they can afford."
Basildon Labour Group leader Nigel Smith said the report confirmed his party's criticism of the Tories' eagerness to build more luxury flats in Basildon and Wickford.
He said: "We have planning approvals and applications for hundreds of expensive flats in the town centres, which are unsuitable for families and too expensive.
"There is no provision of affordable homes, merely cash contributions for cheaper homes elsewhere which are seemingly not being built."
Mr Smith said new flats being built were attracting buyers from London in search of homes cheaper than in their area.
However, Tony Ball, Tory councillor responsible for housing, said the report also called for a greater mix of homes which proved his party were getting it right. He said: "It suggests more aspirational homes, and says there is a shortage of larger properties, particularly in Basildon.
"We are building 700 new homes in Wickford and 3,500 in Basildon.
"Ten per cent of these will be affordable."
He said a local housing company run by the council was an option because it would give the council more control over developments.
- Plans to build 93 luxury flats were put on ice because they included no low-cost homes.
Councillors were set to vote over proposals from Hawkstone Properties to transform former Car Park 3 in Southernhay, Basildon, into flats and three shops.
But the vote was postponed after a row erupted over the lack of affordable homes.
The developer agreed to contribute £398,000 to low cost housing elsewhere in the district, but Labour councillors argued plans for town centre homes should cater for locals struggling to get on the property ladder.
Your Say YourEcho
cant get a home, Basildon says...
3:50pm Tue 15 Jan 08
A friend who works at Basildon Hospital has told me Sunlight who run the laundry there actually source their workers from Eastern Europe and that the virtually the only English people there are the supervisors/managers and that they also find homes for them within the district with sometimes up to 6 sharing the same house.
No wonder people like us cannot get anywhere and are always finding ourselves slipping further down the ladder.
and i wouldnt mind betting this company are not the only ones in this district to deliberatly look for foriegn cheap labour
Basildon Bond, says...
3:55pm Tue 15 Jan 08
Didnt realise it was now a desirable location.
Well, you learn something new everyday day!
John Rushton, Wickford says...
4:11pm Tue 15 Jan 08
I have attended a number of council planning meetings recently, and in many cases they are for 24 flats which therefore avoids the requirement for affordable homes, which for the Basildon district kicks in at 25 or more. If the council had a robust S106 policy like Chelmsford do, they would have had to include affordable housing, which starts at 15 homes, and has to be 35% affordable. So when Tony Ball says the 700 new homes to be built in Wickford will solve the problem, he is talking rubbish - the horse has bolted!
The 700 new homes Tony Ball is proud of, are actually blocks of luxury flats, and many of the ones already approved are being actively promoted as Buy-To-Let, so what chance is that for first time buyers? Indeed, one estate agent in Runwell Road, right opposite one of the impending 5 story blocks, has just set up 3 connecting shops with the banner 'Buy to Let Investment Specialist'
What will the council do next - build on Barn Hall and Dry Street?
I am proud to be a member of the Wickford Action Group, and will sign my name below. But I expect we will get the usual anonymous comments from people who continually knock our efforts to try to prevent Wickford being ruined, and who clearly have vested interests, no doubt estate agents or ruling councillors and their supporters.
John Rushton, Wickford Action Group
Ian G, Southend says...
4:59pm Tue 15 Jan 08
To deal with the immigration issue, I suppose it rather depends on what kind of immigrant were talking about. If were talking about people who have useful skills that we desperately need (take my Polish dentist as an example) and who earn decent money in this country, then yes, I guess they will add to the demand for houses. I dont have a problem with that.
However, unskilled workers (or indeed illegal immigrants) like cant get a homes laundry workers are not going to affect the price of family homes in the UK because theyre nowhere near able to afford them. The kind of places they end up in are often nowhere near suitable for families anyway, and their effect on the housing market is negligible in the long term.
The Tory cabinet member admits that only 10% of houses built will be affordable for goodness sake its scandalous. Regardless of immigration, can any Tory tell me one good reason not to do what is suggested above and enforce a minimum 35% affordable housing on a fifteen home threshold?
Vernon, Basildon says...
5:35pm Tue 15 Jan 08
It does effect house prices, if these workers are being housed (by whatever means)then that reduces property availability thus pushing the price up due to demand
Trainman, says...
5:37pm Tue 15 Jan 08
paulsouth, basildon says...
6:31pm Tue 15 Jan 08
Affordable Housing?, WICKFORD says...
10:38pm Tue 15 Jan 08
I do wonder about the liberalisation of this Country when developers are forced not to improve the surrounding infastructure but make large payments towards 'affordable housing' for people that sometimes do not help themselves.
Swampy, Basildon says...
11:51pm Tue 15 Jan 08
Sadly, we live in a benefits dependancy culture, along with mass migration of new people coming into the area thus placing more strain on alreadly overstretched resources!
For quite a majority of people they are caught up in the poverty trap.
How can young couples afford to get on the housing ladder, when so many properties around them command such ridiculous prices for ex council houses?
There should be a ceiling limit put on these so that they can only sell back to the next generation of people coming up whom wish to purchase for the first time!
"The world has enough for everyman's need, but not enough for everyman's greed."
Mahatma Ghandi.
the nun, says...
12:49am Wed 16 Jan 08
Swampy wrote:my children cant afford to get on the housing ladder ; they simply dont earn enough to buy a place; to rent is even expencive.The prices of ex council houses are stupidly high now in basildon ; due to the fact there in commuting distance to london . most have brought the houses and moved out of the area; but the new ones are somtimes buying them and renting them out again; we have all the overspill of london; and all our country can not cope with all the extra immigrants that are being allowed in. they must think they have arrived in paradise ; when they go to top of the housing list ;while third generation here have to wait in the very long list; then they get hand outs and then make demands that are not acceptable to us.they lie to get here saying they are studying etc; If they where told that if they travel here t hey will have to live on the streets and not be giving housing or benefits; then we wouldnt be now in the position we are ; in belgium ; they have stopped payments and give them food vouchers thats why they havent got the problems we have ; and if we had identity cards as well that would help when they stop people on the streets; they do not cost a lot ; the trouble is we can write about this all the time on here and get angry about what our countrys comming to but whos listening ; no one it seems; only the people that are using this site ; no one else seems to care; and we all just sit there and take it and before we know it we will have lost what we had completly .
Point is, land is at a premium and soon Green Belt will be tapped into for further developments in the future. Sadly, we live in a benefits dependancy culture, along with mass migration of new people coming into the area thus placing more strain on alreadly overstretched resources! For quite a majority of people they are caught up in the poverty trap. How can young couples afford to get on the housing ladder, when so many properties around them command such ridiculous prices for ex council houses? There should be a ceiling limit put on these so that they can only sell back to the next generation of people coming up whom wish to purchase for the first time! "The world has enough for everyman's need, but not enough for everyman's greed." Mahatma Ghandi.
robbie, Laindon says...
10:03am Wed 16 Jan 08
Any one for Imigration now?
It is funny how everyone wants to turn Green to save the earth , but turn a blind eye to saving our country from the immigrant siege we are under
bill sharp, Hadleigh says...
10:07am Wed 16 Jan 08
To swampy stop being paranoid about releasing Green belt and instead insist that as part of the permission the infrastructure has to be in place to accomodate affordable homes with gardens. that is the problem trying to get the numbers needed on an area that is not growing with no improvements to the infrastructure .. after all what was Basildon before it became a new town back in the late fifties ?
APR, Benfleet says...
10:44pm Wed 16 Jan 08
I couldn't afford to buy if I was starting out again.
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Nigel, says...
3:31pm Tue 15 Jan 08
I suspect that if we can stop immigration, the number of new houses needed will fall dramatically. A report this week said that 2 million homes will be needed nationally simply to deal with the immigration crisis.
Where are all these new homes to be built?
You cannot be an environmentalist and support continuing immigration. The two are simply not compatible.