Arguably the biggest issue we have in Crawley and indeed across the wider South-East of England is the availability and affordability of housing. We need housing for all types of tenure including homes to buy. Over the last 20 years, the supply of housing has not kept up with the UK’s population increase, which has been growing annually at half a million people for many years.
There is much pent-up demand for housing, despite the building of over a million homes since 2010 and it is good to see that housebuilding is now at its highest level since the last recession. However, housing remains unaffordable for many of us which is why the Conservative Government is working hard to try and address the broken housing market.
The Conservatives’ abolition of stamp duty for over 80% of first time buyers has already helped 16,000 first time buyers to buy their own home. This change means a stamp duty cut for 95% of all first-time buyers who pay it, meaning a saving of up to £5,000 at a time when outgoings are high in setting up a new home. It was very disappointing to see Labour MPs in the House of Commons vote against this abolition of stamp duty for first time buyers, and it is not lost on me that the majority of these Labour MPs will be homeowners themselves, but that they opposed efforts to help young people afford a home of their own.
The Government are investing £44 billion to reach an average of 300,000 new homes being built each year by the mid-2020s, so as to raise housing supply to its highest level since the 1970s. There is also a Housing Infrastructure Fund which will help up to 200,000 new homes to be built. The first funding allocation of £866 million was awarded this month to go into local housing projects. This saw nearly £23 million across West Sussex being secured for key infrastructure, including £4.4 million in Crawley to support the construction of an acoustic barrier, enabling more than 400 homes to go ahead at the Forge Wood development.
Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group
28th February 2018