City Council welcomes Shadow Housing Minister to Plymouth

Shadow Housing Minsiter Jack Dromey MP is visiting Plymouth today (Thursday 28 February) to see how the Council and housing organisations are tackling the housing crisis.

During his visit Mr Dromey will be taken on a tour of housing redevelopments in Millbay, Devonport and also the biggest in the south west, North Prospect, where he will also meet some of the residents who are benefitting from the new homes.

Mr Dromey will meet Council Leader Tudor Evans and hear about the housing challenges the city is facing including; the affordability of houses, homelessness and increasing the number of decent private rented properties.

Speaking ahead of the visit, Jack Dromey said: “The housing crisis is getting worse by the day and nearly 18 months on from David Cameron’s promise to ‘get Britain building’, it’s clear he is failing. We started to build 11 per cent fewer homes in 2012 than the previous year, less than 100,000 homes in the whole of England. And since the election, homelessness and rough sleeping have both risen by a third.”

“But across the country Labour local authorities are taking the lead in tackling David Cameron’s housing crisis and I am looking forward to visiting Plymouth and Exeter to see how they are leading the way in building the homes the country desperately needs and helping reduce homelessness and rough sleeping.”

Council Leader Councillor Tudor Evans said: “Mr Dromey’s visit is a good opportunity for us to show off the fantastic regeneration work that’s reshaping parts of our city. We are committed to a huge growth agenda to transform the city, creating jobs and building more houses but we are facing some huge challenges.

“This is a chance for us to discuss our concerns over the impact of current government policies and show Mr Dromey how they will affect real people so he can take those messages back to Westminster. As benefits are slashed we will do everything we can to support residents but it’s going to be a worrying time that will hit vulnerable and low income groups hard. We need the freedom to develop exemptions and exclusions for the Bedroom Tax to meet the needs of local people, immediate clarity on future funding so investments can be made into new homes and flexibility in the New Homes Bonus.”

The North Prospect regeneration will create 1200 new homes, replace 800 obsolete homes and create a £4 million Community Hub.

Clive Turner, Chief Executive, Plymouth Community Homes added: “This visit, at a crucial stage in investment in the regeneration of Plymouth at North Prospect as it moves into its next phase, is a fantastic opportunity to present what we have achieved, what we plan for the future and to show, first hand, the real positive impact the work is already having. We can already see how a new community is being created with the coming together of existing residents and people new to the neighbourhood.” 

The Council has recently launched the Get Plymouth Building programme. There are eight initiatives to accelerate the building of new homes including affordable housing including working with landowners on sites with lapsed planning permission, reviewing stalled sites with planning permission and identifying self-build sites. Deals have also been struck with developers for ten sites of Council land where more than 600 homes will be built.