I’ll help young people buy first home, vows Tory mayor candidate
GREATER Manchester’s Conservative mayoral candidate has pledged to help young people get help to buy their first house in their home town.
The promise is just one part of Tory hopeful Sean Anstee’s plan to tackle the region’s housing crisis by reserving a proportion of new builds for locals.
Trafford’s council leader, who is hoping to take the top job in May, has vowed to help first time buyers get on the housing ladder in their own areas.
An increasing number of people who scrimp and save to get a mortgage deposit together are unable to buy a house near to where they grew up, with scores of them having to set up home in neighbouring boroughs, miles away from their family and friends.
Coun Anstee wants to reserve a percentage of new homes for locals, though the exact proportion planned is yet to be announced.
He said: “It’s perfectly reasonable to have an expectation that you have the chance to buy a home in the area you grew up in – to stay in the community you’ve grown accustomed to and enjoy living in.
“As developments spring up, there would be a period where a proportion of new homes would be reserved for locals.
“So when we’d say ‘we’re building home for your children and grandchildren,’ we’d really mean it.”
Coun Anstee’s housing plan involves building thousands of new homes; encouraging development on former industrial, brownfield land; and pumping cash into transport and infrastructure. He has vowed to create more affordable housing to ensure those on low incomes can rent a decent home. Social housing will be improved, as well as private-rented homes. Coun Anstee has also guaranteed land will only be allocated for development once the required schools, roads, public transport and health facilities are in place. He wants to create a single investment fund for transport and triple the size of the region’s housebuilding pot. Greater Manchester’s £300m Housing Investment Fund has helped kick start building of over 1,500 new homes on brownfield sites. Coun Anstee wants it to be increased to £900m. He also wants to put time limits on developers so they cannot stall work on sites given planning permission – and phase building on green belts sites eventually allocated for homes under the region’s controversial housebuilding masterplan. Coun Anstee said: “Having a place you are proud to call home is a right that everybody living in Greater Manchester should have, be it in a property you own or one you rent.” Sean Anstee