Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
No council houses built for 11 years
‘People cannot afford the rents charged by private landlords...’
No council homes have been built in the district for the past 11 years, figures reveal.
Canterbury City Council has not constructed any new social housing since 2011, when five properties were completed in St Francis Close, Whitstable.
Since then, it has failed to build more, prompting critics to brand its efforts “pitiful” and to accuse the authority of a dereliction of duty.
This comes as almost 3,000 families and individuals languish on the authority’s waiting list for a council home - a number up 20% in the last four years.
Reacting to the findings, Labour leader Cllr Dave Wilson told the Gazette: “There’s no question of the housing need in the area.
“People simply cannot afford the commercial rents charged by private landlords.
“It’s unacceptable – we could be doing something about it. It’s a pitiful number.
“Places like Southampton and Norwich have embarked on housebuilding by borrowing money with a clear plan on how to make it viable. But this council doesn’t have a plan because it doesn’t want to build houses. It’s a dereliction of duty.”
Over the last 11 years Ashford Borough Council has completed 210 such properties, while Dartford and Thanet have built 90 between them, according to figures from the Department for Levelling Up.
The lack of new social housing comes as the cost of renting privately has increased 12% in the UK over the past seven years.
In the Canterbury district, Office for National Statistics findings show the median cost of privately renting a three-bed home is now £1,100 per month, higher than anywhere else in east Kent.
Meanwhile, data from the DWP suggest poverty is on the rise across the area, with one in five children now being raised in low-income households.
The issue is worst in the city’s Wincheap and Northgate wards, where more than a 25% are growing up in families taking home less than £295 per week.
“How many houses could we have built with the £9 million or more that went on the Station Road West multistorey?” Cllr Wilson added.
“We could have probably got 40 or more houses out of that.”
The council had hoped to build 10 homes at its Tivoli arcade site in the Bay – but this is now in doubt as the authority considers selling the plot.
However, bosses point to a focus on instead repurchasing properties bought by tenants under right-to-buy legislation.
This approach saw 47 return to the register between 2015 and 2018 for about £10 million.
A further £23 million was used to buy 44 student flats earmarked for conversion into 61 council homes off Sturry Road.
Of these, 24 were were moved into at the start of 2020, with the remainder set to be handed over in the next few days.
Council leader Ben Fitter-harding (Con) said: “We haven’t built many new-build social houses, though some are currently underway, but we have bought and converted new social housing in recent years.
“The council also works with housing associations to deliver housing available for shared ownership and social rent.
“I’m confident that through the actions we’ve already taken on the housing stock, and the work being done for the next Local Plan, we’ll better address the housing needs of all of our residents.”
The city council is pressing ahead with a scheme for 20 social homes at the former Sturry Road Community Centre in Warwick Road.
Five more will be added to its portfolio this year, once its Kingsmead Field project is finished.