Cambridge Liberal Democrat Manifesto 1998 Housing

Secure Communities
The Liberal Democrat aim is that every person in Britain should have the security of a decent home in a safe, strong community. We are committed to the pursuit of practical measures to rebuild Britain's communities, tackle the causes of crime, and reduce homelessness.

Focusing on important issues which affect the environment, promote the well-being of the local economy and encourage the participation by tenants and other local people in the management of their communities and the design of new estates is a key feature of the Liberal Democrat approach.

Partnerships
We want to end the scandal of people sleeping rough on the streets of Cambridge. In partnership with The English Churches Housing Group, the city was awarded 'Rough Sleeper's Initiative' funding for short stay accommodation in their supported housing project. Resettlement workers play a vital role in the process of assessing the needs of people who have probably given up all hope of ever living independently again. We believe that more funding should be made available for resettlement work, which would provide the support needed to get people back into permanent accommodation.

More work needs to be done to provide housing with training opportunities for young people coming out of care or leaving home and ending up on the streets. There is currently a proposal to develop a 'Foyer' in Cambridge. The English Churches Housing Group are also involved in the third phase of a 'Young Homelessness project' which provides small groups of young people with a home, a support worker and a training or work opportunity. This scheme is part funded by Local Authority Social Housing Grant and is an example of the kind of partnership working that we support.

Cambridge's Housing Crisis
Cambridge faces a serious housing problem. Nearly 50% of new households in the City cannot afford either to buy or to rent a home in the private sector.

Unfortunately, government restrictions on all aspects of housing policy, but especially on finance, mean that, no matter who runs it, the Council will not be able to implement the only practical solution to the problem, which is to build more social housing at a rate of about 200 to 300 homes a year. Regrettably, these restrictions look set to continue and the council has had no choice but to investigate the possibility of forming a "not-for profit Housing Company". Ultimately, this is the sad consequence of an outdated dogma about how to calculate total government borrowing that is supported by both Tory and Labour front benches at national level.

Scarce Resources
The City Council has had to make some hard decisions over the past year. Faced with a New Labour Government committed to old Tory spending policies, hopes that Labour's purported commitment to housing investment would be realised have been dashed. The City has a £21 million repair bill and a further £20 million modernisation programme; the Labour government has granted a borrowing facility of just under £1 million as part of the "Capital Receipts Initiative."

Such sums are wholly inadequate to meet the city's needs. For example, they will not go very far even in keeping going a capital spending programme big enough to provide PVCu windows and to fund other energy saving insulation schemes, even though such schemes are not just a matter of environmental correctness or saving money for tenants; they can save lives.

The City's housing stock faces a backlog of repairs and modernisation. Their overall condition is deteriorating.

Things look set to get worse: building land in sensible locations is in short supply. We will continue to use the Council's planning powers through existing policies which require major developers to provide some social housing on prime development sites. It is important that every effort is made to see that the homes form an integral part of the whole development, built to the same quality, design and standard as the private property. Examples of this 'planning gain' in Cambridge in the past has produced segregated little pockets of social housing tucked away behind a wall - this does nothing towards the natural development of neighbourhoods as communities.

Participation in Development - Planning for Real
Planning for Real means the active involvement of residents in the design and improvement of estates. Residents, not professionals, are the real experts on the area they live in. It is a concept profoundly in tune with Liberal Democrat principles.

We will apply Planning for Real to all significant new developments. Thanks to Liberal Democrat involvement a start was made in this direction in the handling of the Histon Rd Allotments development. The new tenants have selected many features and fittings for their new homes. This is a good beginning which we intend to develop.

The Planning for Real consultation was extended to the City's Meadows Centre adjoining the Allotments site. This resulted in a youth centre fully equipped with features specially chosen by young people from the surrounding area.

Planning for Real is also a way in which residents can have a say in advance about the balance between housing and, for example, leisure, transport links and shopping facilities on a new estate.

"Cambridge Community Housing" - The proposal
We predicted, back in the autumn of 1996, that the council would have to investigate the possibility of transferring its homes to a "Not-for-profit Housing Company" which would be able to raise private finance outside of the borrowing restrictions imposed on Local Authorities by the Treasury. In the absence of any move by central government to change the borrowing rules, we are supporting the Council's decision to give tenants the opportunity to vote on whether or not their homes should be transferred to a Housing Company.

Liberal Democrats are making a significant contribution during this initial planning stage. We initiated the appointment of an "Independent Tenants' Advisor" who will give the tenants an unbiased view of the advantages and disadvantages of such a proposal.

Liberal Democrats have long believed in extensive tenant participation in the management of public sector housing. A Housing Company could offer tenants an enhanced role in the running of their homes. The Board of the Company, which would have the real power over management decisions, could be made up of councillors, tenants and independent members from the community in equal numbers. At present only councillors have such power.

The stock transfer will generate a huge capital receipt for the Council. We will oppose any attempts to turn this into a "cash bonanza" to be used to finance the grandiose and poorly controlled capital projects that the Labour administration is prone to. We strongly believe that profits from social housing should go back into social housing. And we will also oppose Labour proposals that would in practice restrict council directors of the Company to Labour councillors from wards dominated by public sector housing. Our view is that the Council's representatives on the Company's Board should represent the city as a whole - not just those who already live in public sector housing but also those thousands on the waiting lists who want a chance to live in it and everyone whose sons or daughters might one day depend on it.

Table of Contents | Next Page