Inappropriate Development - Fightback?

As you may have gathered, if you have read some of my recent posts (here , here and here for example) I get quite riled by the way Westminster uses words. The London parties use definitions of everyday words and phrases to make what they are doing appear to be what normal people would think was a good idea. In fact the very reverse is always closer to the truth.

Nothing provides a better example of this than the ConDem approach to 'Localism', 'Affordable Housing' and development in general.

I have decided to see if there are any like-minded people in and around Illogan who feel the same way.

Westminster pretty much has things sewn up - but perhaps, with support, we could fight back a little.

here is the text of a letter that I have sent to Illogan residents.

Dear Friend,

Westminster politicians¸ of all hues, are guilty of cynically misleading us!

They use terms such as ‘Localism’ and ‘Affordable Housing’ in order to appear as if they know and understand the problems that we face in Cornwall related to housing and development. The truth is that when you look closely at the small print and official definitions of these terms they are actually ways of encouraging development, creating profits for developers on the back of houses which local people can’t even begin to hope to afford to buy.

I would like to do something to stop this travesty. It is probably a near impossible job but somebody has to try! If you would like to support my campaign to uncover the Westminster development lies then please join me at The Meeting Room, Melting Pot Café, Krowji on Wednesday 14^th December 2012 at 7:00pm.

I will be chairing a meeting to discuss the issues surrounding development and what Mebyon Kernow stands for please come along and help me to make a difference for Illogan and to put Cornwall first!

Of course, if anyone from outside of Illogan wants to come along to the Melting Pot Cafe, Krowji, Redruth on Wednesday 14th December at 7:00pm, you would be very welcome.

OMG - Just stop it now!

It really drives me mad.

A few days ago we had the ConDems pretending to be building 'Affordable Homes' - which of course don't exist.

Now we have Jude Robinson telling us how Labour were so brilliant at building non-existent 'Affordable Homes'.

There is no such thing as Affordable Housing in Cornwall (that ordinary people can actually afford) according to Westminster definitions. It is an indictment of the Westminster unionist parties that they have the gall and cynicism to squabble over which of them is trying to sort out the housing crisis. Give us a proper definition of Affordable - one that relates to what the word means - and then tell us what you have done to address the problem.

MK believe that the only way to sort this problem out is to abandon the Tory policies of the Tories and the Torylite policies of the Lib Dems and Labour, and build houses for public ownership or that are not dependent on developers having to make a big profit to get them built.

The house building market is not building because the market is shot. Developers can't make a profit so they don't build - market forces in action.

Westminster believes in subsidising developers profits to build homes that only MPs and people earning more than them can afford.

MK believes that Cornwall should be offering a fair price for a good quality product where it is required to meet a local need.

Why do we want to build new homes?

Why do we want to build more homes?

It sounds like a bit of a daft question really? We need homes to solve the 'housing crisis' is the answer.

But is it?

I recently blogged about the fact that there is no such thing as an affordable house for the average person in Cornwall. So why is the government trying to 'kick-start' the house building market? What is the point in using our taxes to enable developers to build homes that only someone earning the salary of an MP can afford? Building new homes will not solve the housing crisis as long as people can't afford to live in them.

This is the problem with Tory market-driven ideology. We are told that it is important to build new houses in order to provide homes for people - in fact it is simply using our taxes to keep the developers profits going.

How many times do we hear that the free market is the only way to get sutainable growth? If this is true then why does the government want to interfere in that process and keep developers' profits going? It is because houses are to expensive that nobody is buying them - not because there are not enough available. It is the market, which successive governments have allowed and encouraged to get out of control which is the problem. It is no use simply building houses if ordinary people can't buy them - am I completely wrong?

Over the last few days, at our annual conference, MK has spent time in developing a detailed and coherent policy on housing.

We believe that Cornwall needs its own Assembly which can take a different approach. We believe that good quality housing is a fundamental human right and not a privilege for the rich. It is the duty of any responsible government to meet this basic human need - not to boost developers' profits.

What is wrong with building houses for people to live in? What is wrong with building houses that people can afford to rent and to buy if that is their aspiration?

A Cornish Assembly led by MK would not be driven by the need to make a profit or the need to satisfy it's finaciers. One third ofthe cost of a house is profit for the developer. If you eliminate that need then that is an immediate reduction in the cost of a house by 33%.

The buy to let market is functioning 'very nicely thank you' at the moment. Buy to let magnates make a profit by purchasing housing stock and then renting houses to ordinary people. The rent they receive covers the cost of the mortgage and gives the landlord a bonus profit. All the time their capital asset appreciates in value it is being paid for (and then some) by the inflated rent receipt.

If private speculators can make this work, and make large profits, then MK believes that it is possible for the people of Cornwall to build their own houses with a rent that covers the cost of loan without the need for profit. In other words, schemes like this would be self-finacing and would not cost the tax payer anything.

As I stated above, we have a whole raft of policies and proposals for dealing with the housing crisis in Cornwall. Meeting Cornish problems with Cornish solutions - putting Cornwall first.

Affordability - Another Westminster Red Herring

Over the last month or two I have tried to show that the Conservative (supported by their Lib Dem whipping boys) idea of 'Localism' is anything but - especially when it comes to development policy.

There is, sadly, another term that seems to be being scattered like confetti by Westminster politicians. A cynical attempt to fool us into believeing that they are trying to solve the housing crisis in Cornwall.

'Affordable Housing' is the mantra of the politcian that wants us to think that he or she understands the situation and wants to do something about it. If some LibLabCon person mentions Affordable Housing and the dire need for homes for local people it demonstrates their empathy for the struggle that the people of Cornwall are facing. Yeah - right!

The problem is what they mean by 'Affordable Housing' and what we would like to think they mean are very different things.

'Affordable Housing' is actually a specifically defined term to be found in the Department for Communities and Local Government's Policy Statement . There is also information on Cornwall Council's website.

There are basically two parts to Affordable Housing - the rented sector and purchase sector. As the subject of Affordable Housing usually comes up in the media in the context of people being able to buy their own home I mainly looked at what the policy means for people who want to do just that.

Basically Affordable Housing is available to Eligble Households who earn less than Stephen Gilbert MP and who have a development building Affordable Housing within 10 miles or so of where they currently live. If you want to buy your home outright then you may be able to find a house with a "20% - 50% discount" compared to market value.

Given that the average house price in Cornwall is now over £220,000 even a 50% dscount would be £110,000.

I have asked for more information from Cornwall Council as to exacly how many discounted Affordable Homes have been provided in Cornwall over the last year and what the average discount has been and I will blog again when I get this information.

However, in the meantime I will make a few assumptions.

First of all the average price includes all housing and will be distorted by higher value detached houses. I will use £185,000 as the basic market value price. This is the figure for the average semi-detached house in Cornwall.

Secondly I will assume the discount is 25%. I have seen a few schemes where a 20% discount has been offered but never any where 50% was available, so I think 25% is being generous.

This means an average Affordable Home would cost £138,750.

Given the average wage in Cornwall is now £17,000, this means that the average Affordable House is more than 8 times the average wage. Of course this means that, as everyone knows, even an Affordable House isn't affordable.

So what does all this mean?

Well it means that there is no such thing as an Affordable House for the average person in Cornwall.

It means that politicians in Westminster parties are at best being disingenuous at best when they talk about their committment to Affordable Housing because they are merely talking about a committment to something that doesn't exist.

However, there is more harm being done by the Affordable Housing red herring.

The hidden problem is that supposed Affordable Housing is being used to drive development in Cornwall using the fairy tale that housing is being provided for local need as well as developers' greed.

The media allows people who have a vested interest in seing houses built to make comments such as:

"There is a pent up demand for houses."

"There is a housing shortage so we need to build more."

What nobody is ever allowed to say is:

"Building more houses - even Affordable Housing won't allow the average person in Cornwall to buy one."

So who are all the houses for?

They must be for people who can afford them - whoever these people are they are not your average Cornish person on the streets of Camborne, St Austell, Bude or Penzance!