A Vote for Labour Will Now Give Hope For Thousands

COUNCIL HOUSE Building To Return?"The Daily Mirror this morning is running an exclusive story that will find huge support here in Wednesfield" said Councillor Dave Jones.

Councillor Jones went onto say that "The good news is that it is being reported that Labour is to build thousands of new Council Homes. Gordon Brown is ready to launch a new era of council house building when he takes over at 10 Downing Street.

Already and as a first step, Labour's Housing Minister Yvette Cooper revealed yesterday that rules stopping town halls building thousands of desperately needed properties are to be relaxed.

Again it is reported that she said families on council house waiting lists know we have to build more homes, both for rents and shared ownership.

Lots of councils have spare land. We want to make it easier to use it to build homes for local people."

From next April local authorities will be allowed to keep rent money - which now goes to Whitehall - to give them an incentive to build.

Ministers are also looking at easing regulations to let councils borrow money from banks to finance a massive new programme.

Ms Cooper insists there will be no return to sprawling 60s-style estates. She wants small "mixed developments" with council homes, shared ownership and private properties next to each other - and it must not be obvious which are rented.

Personally I think that this is a great policy that will be very well received.

Back at the end of March of this year colleague Phil Bateman wrote " Difficult Housing Conditions Remain In Wednesfield North. He said " It is becoming harder and harder to identify properties for rent in Ashmore Park. Yet the list of people wanting to live in the area still continues to grow. As at December 2006 there were just 1237 dwellings in Wolverhampton Homes ownership on Ashmore Park Estate
Today I have published information that lists the total number of people on the Wolverhampton Homes waiting list .

At the 5th February this total stood at 8663. Made up of 6203 -1st time applicants, and 2460 people seeking transfers from homes they already dwell in.

Now looking at the total number of void properties falling in Wednesfield North. We had on the 5th February just 2 empty properties. This included a 3 bed maisonette and a 1 bed low rise flat.

I have also enquired as to how many homes have been sold under the housing legislation in Ashmore Park.

This figure now stands at 1834 properties sold under Right to Buy legislation.

The issue is pretty stark now for everyone to see, and the fact of the matter is that it is going to be very difficult for people wishing to move onto Ashmore Park estate if they are looking for social housing."

Now a vote for Labour will give hope to thousands of people waiting for homes.