In A recent speech Jane Scott, the leader of Wiltshire Council, suggested that the policy of cuts that the Tory council is forcing on us, will make the more vulnerable stronger. That view shows a callous disregard for facts and a total misunderstanding of the problems people face today.
To suggest that current policies will boost local economies, make communities stronger and more resilient, is disgraceful. Three years ago there were 17,000 people on the housing list. Wiltshire Council removed categories of people such as under 25s from the list and ended up with a list of less than 1,700. That one act gives an indication of how this council works. If you can’t solve the problem, hide it and pretend it does not exist, and stop finding money for it.
Now Ms Scott has the nerve to boast that Wiltshire Council will be spending £41 million on “housing”. No indication of how much of that money will be spent on affordable/social housing. Wiltshire’s definition of “affordable housing” starts at £250,000. Not affordable for any first-time buyer I have come across.
The 17,000 people in need of a home to rent still exist. Many may be in the clutches of landlords that are allowed to increase rents without any restraint, many may be stuck in an extended childhood by living with their parents. Some may be sleeping on friends’ sofas, or even living in the woods. But they still exist. The cost of housing them, because housing has been neglected for so long by this council, would now be a staggering £1.2 billion. So to proudly suggest that spending £41 million on housing indicates that Wiltshire Council is taking care of Wiltshire people’s housing needs, shows a very loose grip on reality. How can any community be more resilient with so many people in desperate need of a home?
All the years that Wiltshire has boasted about not increasing the council tax, that earned Ms Scott her title from her political masters, are now exposed as years when they merely decided not to bother with some of the important services that they should have been providing. How dare you Wiltshire Council.
Shaun Henley
Prospective Candidate for Wiltshire Unitary and Warminster Town Council’s Lambrok Ward
Frome Road
Trowbridge