Bristol to build first council houses in 30 years
Council houses are to be built in Bristol for the first time in nearly 30 years.
The Government is giving more than £3 million to the city council to build 46 homes on 11 brownfield sites in Lawrence Weston, Sea Mills and Brentry.
Work must start before March next year and the new homes are expected to be ready for new tenants by next autumn.
Bristol is one of 47 councils in the country to win funding in the first wave of new council house building announced by Local Government Minister John Healey.
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Lib Dem Cabinet Councillor Dr Mark Wright, who is in charge of the council's housing department, said: "We are delighted for a number of reasons.
"First, we have got a terrible housing shortage in Bristol and secondly, the areas where they will be built are in need of new homes.
"Thirdly, this is expected to help the local construction industry during the recession and provide work for many building contractors who are currently unemployed."
There are more than 14,000 people on Bristol's council housing waiting list and the last time council homes were built in the city was during the early 1980s.
Graham Sims, the council's Strategic Director for Neighbourhoods, said: "There are suggestions that this round of bidding could be followed by further funding which, if this is the case, would be very welcome indeed."
Council officials say they are waiting for advice from the Government on whether tenants in the new homes will eventually be able to buy the properties under the right-to-buy legislation.
Local Government Minister John Healey said a total of more than 2,000 council homes will be built under the £127 million building programme, creating more than 5,000 construction jobs. A total of 156 will be built in the South West.
He said: "It's still small scale, but it is significant – and it's a sign of our commitment to new council homes. This is the first time that councils are getting government grants to build new council homes on the same basis as housing associations."
Mr Healey defended Labour's decade-long refusal to give town halls the same freedom to build as housing associations, insisting they were too badly run.
He said: "Even the strongest champion of local councils would have to concede that too few of them were very good at what they did, and too many of them were poor at a lot of what they did."
Comments
by adrian, bristol
Thursday, September 17 2009, 12:09PM
“NIMBY or Nimby is an acronym for Not In My Back Yard. The term (or the derivative Nimbyism) is used pejoratively to describe opposition by residents to a proposal for a new development close to them. Opposing residents themselves are sometimes called Nimbies. The new project being opposed is generally considered a benefit for many but has negative side-effects on many local residents who want it to be located elsewhere. The term was coined in the 1980s by British politician Nicholas Ridley, who was Conservative Secretary of State for the Environment.
NIMBY and its derivative terms NIMBYism, NIMBYs, and NIMBYists, refer implicitly to debates of development generally or to a specific case. As such, their use is inherently contentious. The Oxford English Dictionary identifies the acronym's earliest use as being in 1980 in the Christian Science Monitor. The term is usually applied to opponents of a development, implying that they have narrow, selfish, or myopic views. Its use is often pejorative.[2]
The term has been applied in debates over developments in various situations, including:
when parties advocate infrastructure development such as new roads, light rail and metro lines, airports, power plants, electrical transmission lines, wastewater treatment plants, landfills, sewage outfalls or prison
when parties build, operate, or advocate culturally unfamiliar functions, such as subsidized housing, halfway house, or homeless shelters
when a government or private party advocates development of residential or commercial property.
Regards
AdrIAn (6 3/4)”
by adrian, bristol
Thursday, September 17 2009, 12:00PM
“Dear John and Amanda,
NIMBY NIMBY NIMBY NIMBY NIMBY NIMBY NIMBY NIMBY,
aDrIAn (Aged 6 3/4)”
by Sue, Bristol
Thursday, September 10 2009, 9:50PM
“Ian, you stand for everything that people find prejudice in the generalisation of what is a council house family.
Yoour lack of education speaks for itself.”
by ian, My paid for house
Thursday, September 10 2009, 7:04PM
“We could do without more council house scummers in Bristol. I hate council estate crud!!”
by Chris, work
Thursday, September 10 2009, 3:48PM
“Mike Ford.
Cocknose”
by David, Brenttry
Thursday, September 10 2009, 3:43PM
“can anyone tell me where abouts these brown field sites are??????”
by John, Clifton
Thursday, September 10 2009, 3:26PM
“Home Owner, why shouldn't this family live in the house? £41k these days would be a struggle, why should a family struggle just to buy a house which they can barely afford. Sorry I can't agree with you, people today live beyond their means and that's why this government has had to spend £100bn to stabalise the economy and save HBOS who lent to people who couldn't afford to borrow.
Sorry but this is 2009 and not 2007, the world has changed.”
by John Tresider, Shirehampton
Thursday, September 10 2009, 3:23PM
“Why didn't they give the money to either Redland or Guiness Housing Associations.. Then you would have had more houses for your money.No consultancy fees or anything like that”
by ???, Seamills
Thursday, September 10 2009, 3:12PM
“The council have £3million to build new council houses and yet cannot rebuild the concrete cancer houses which are falling apart as they dont have any money!!!!!! yet the tenants are still paying full rent for them and have been living in limbo now for more than ten years!”
by Amanda, Bristol
Thursday, September 10 2009, 3:09PM
“John, you are perfectly entitled to having an opinion on something that affects you directly, without being called stupid names, like NIMBY. I feel sure that your accuser would have similar opinions if something was to be built next to him that have any sort of affect on their lives. It does not make you a NIMBY but somebody who is concerned about big changes to the area which they chose to make home! Grow up Adrian!”