24 November (Part 1) - Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Sorry, you may need to be as old as me to get that title reference. Google it.
The final part of the Cabinet meeting that should be reported was consideration of Bexley’s Housing Strategy.
Leader
Teresa O’Neill said that she wanted to “attract quality housing and make best use of housing already in
the borough”. She referred to developments at Hill View, Howbury, Thamesmead,
Erith Park, Arthur’s Street, Erith Quarry and Old Farm Avenue. “Bexley offers life chances to our residents.”
The Chief Executive followed up with “providing residents with the homes they
need is a priority for the Council. Access to decent affordable housing is a
fundamental necessary to help them achieve their full potential” but “there are significant housing challenges to overcome”.
Cabinet Member Alex Sawyer welcomed the Housing Strategy Report saying the
Council “does not own its own stock nor do we have significant assets so
partnership working is a key strand of our Strategy”. The partners have been complimentary.
“Property ownership is an aspirational choice and sits alongside the
entrepreneurial free market capitalist vision that rescued this country from the
pits of despair of the late 1970s and will surely do so again when God willing
we emerge from the pandemic and the state takes a back seat.”
“It is important that those unable to buy their own homes have access to
affordable rented accommodation delivered by the private sector. We need a sustained supply chain.”
He went on to say that the pandemic has caused the proposed review of the
Housing Allocation Policy to be deferred.
Cabinet Member Philip Read also welcomed the Strategy and praised the relatively
new Thameslink rail service to St. Pancras and various points North which
benefits Bexley residents “and when the present London Mayor is just a bad
memory we will also be able to say we have Crossrail serving our borough”.
Cabinet Member Peter Craske mentioned that BexleyCo will provide 21
affordable homes on Old Farm Park. He claimed that the Labour Group was against
them but of course the truth is that the Labour Group was against the sale of
the Park long before any plans were drawn up for it.
There was little left for Deputy Leader Louie French to say but he emphasised the
need for infrastructure to support new housing. Shame his boss was dead set
against that sort of thing six years ago.
Councillor Joe Ferreira (Labour, Erith) contrasted Bexley’s achievements with
Greenwich where “another 117 Council homes part funded by the Mayor of London” have just been approved.
He didn’t think the Strategy “went far enough and it was a missed opportunity.
It doesn’t provide a clear ambitious vision or how to achieve it. The key test
is increasing the supply of homes but it is not clear to me that any additional
homes will be built as a direct result of this strategy”.