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DORSET COUNCILLORS MUST NOT DENY THEIR PEOPLE A HOME

Councillors‘ move to block new housing ignores the county‘s needs

 

South West housing leaders will now write to councillors and MPs

 

Councillors in Dorset have been decried as “NIMBY” objectors to the new and affordable homes badly needed by the county‘s key workers and young people. 

Councillors from Dorset County Council, Bournemouth Borough Council, and the Borough of Poole have combined in resisting the assessment of the need for 12,250 new homes per year, suggesting that the proposal is “totally unacceptable and unjustified”.

According to the South West Housing Initiative (SWHI) - a unique partnership of the region‘s house-builders, housing associations, housing professions, and employers – this response flies in the face of reality.

“Dorset, like the rest of the South West, has the country‘s biggest housing crisis, with the biggest affordability gap between average earnings and average house-prices, and the biggest gap between demand for homes and the supply of new housing”, said Martin Willey, Co-ordinator of the SWHI.

“Indeed, Dorset is one of the region‘s counties most in need of more homes.  With an average house-price 15 times higher than the average wage, Dorset is in a dire position to retain its young people and key workers.  While one in 30 properties in Dorset is a second home, the county‘s waiting lists for homes have more than doubled in five years, from 6,2006 households in 2002 to 12,709 last year.

“While it is always easier to win NIMBY votes by opposing housing growth, Dorset councillors are in serious danger of undermining their county‘s economy and forcing their young people and key-workers to move elsewhere”, warned Martin Willey.

“No-one wants to despoil our region‘s beautiful countryside:  but there is an urgent need for homes – and they can be delivered in ways that enhance the environment and create truly sustainable communities.  The SWHI only promotes high quality, well designed, energy efficient, sustainable housing”, he added.

The South West Housing Initiative will now write to every councillor serving on planning committees in Dorset, and the county‘s MPs, to highlight the danger to the county of opposing new homes for local people, and offering to demonstrate best-practice solutions, and the community benefits they provide.

END               6th October 2008

For further information please contact David Sturgess, Sturgess Van Damme, on 01275 349011 or email david@sturgessvandamme.co.uk