Local Tories had no Plan B for Affordable Housing

11.17.23am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 13th Apr 2010

Staffordshire Moorlands needs Affordable Housing

Henry Jebb says: "The Conservatives' commitment to affordable housing - one of the Key Priorities of the District Council over the past 7 years - has been exposed as skin deep by Shelter's report in last week's papers. But that is not the biggest scandal.

"Local Tories, including their parliamentary candidate, campaigned against the Liberal Democrat/Ratepayer administration's visionary plans for affordable housing for local people which would be kick-started in Biddulph. Those plans stalled when the Tories took over control of SMDC, and objectors later won the battle to stop development. The Tories have presided over, if not encouraged, the effective loss of an asset worth a small fortune, which Moorlands residents will be paying for over years to come.

"The Tory administration had no Plan B. It took them 2 years, several portfolio holders and wasted money, time and effort, before an alternative strategy was developed. What's the human cost in this? Those same local families - and more - are still waiting for a home they can afford, all thanks to Tory incompetence. Tory-run Staffordshire Moorlands is still one of the worst affordable housing providers in the whole country."