Gordon Brown has embarked on his imperial progress around the UK, aimed at showing the electorate that he is fizzing with ideas and is not in any sense encumbered by the minor technicality that he has been Tony Blair’s estranged Siamese twin since 1997, and before that.
So far, the big ideas have been rather thin on the ground. I had hoped that he would announce the abandonment of the wasteful, intrusive, dangerous nonsense that is the ID cards scheme, but, only yesterday, his spokesman poured cold water on that notion.
No, according to this morning’s Telegraph and Times, Brown’s major announcement this week is to be the building of five carbon-neutral new "eco-towns" on brownfield sites in the south and east of England.
There are a couple of points to be made about this. First, the idea is not new; it was first flagged up about twelve months ago. Brown is simply recycling old policy announcements, his modus operandi for the past decade; so no change there.
Secondly, the proposal is nakedly political, intended simply as an attempt to out-green the Tories, who have opened up a huge gap ahead of on Labour on environmental issues. I can’t really complain too much about that, because Brown is bound to do his best to try to give Labour a greener image, and there is a lot of ground to make up. In any case, we should indeed be building more environmentally efficient homes, and the planning regime and building regulations should be designed to help achieve this.
However, the mooted eco-towns are not the answer to the housing crisis that is engulfing us. House prices have rocketed over the last ten years and affordable housing is now but a distant memory. It is all but impossible to get on the property ladder. Lenders are now offering mortgages calculated at up to seven times income, but that only makes matters worse for borrowers at a time of rising interest rates.
This applies as much in the country as in the towns and cities. In North Wales, the rural areas are experiencing significant outward migration of young people, creating an increasingly elderly population profile.
Brown is, in large measure, himself responsible for our housing problems. His huge increases in stamp duty have significantly increased the overheads associated with house buying; the ludicrous Home Information Packs will only add to the burden. Council tax inflation – even higher in Wales than in England, because of revaluation and rebanding - has been stoked up by Brown’s use of the system as another stealth tax.
The eco-town idea (if it is indeed ever developed beyond the leadership campaign period) will not address the crisis in any way; what is needed is affordable housing in the areas where people want to live and work, not in cantonments remote from the major commercial centres.
I have a friend who is expecting her first baby in a few weeks’ time. Whilst excited at the prospect, she tells me that she is truly concerned that her child may never be able to afford a home to live in. That is deeply worrying, and is the big issue that Brown – and every other politician, for that matter – should be addressing. Posturing simply won’t do.
So far, the big ideas have been rather thin on the ground. I had hoped that he would announce the abandonment of the wasteful, intrusive, dangerous nonsense that is the ID cards scheme, but, only yesterday, his spokesman poured cold water on that notion.
No, according to this morning’s Telegraph and Times, Brown’s major announcement this week is to be the building of five carbon-neutral new "eco-towns" on brownfield sites in the south and east of England.
There are a couple of points to be made about this. First, the idea is not new; it was first flagged up about twelve months ago. Brown is simply recycling old policy announcements, his modus operandi for the past decade; so no change there.
Secondly, the proposal is nakedly political, intended simply as an attempt to out-green the Tories, who have opened up a huge gap ahead of on Labour on environmental issues. I can’t really complain too much about that, because Brown is bound to do his best to try to give Labour a greener image, and there is a lot of ground to make up. In any case, we should indeed be building more environmentally efficient homes, and the planning regime and building regulations should be designed to help achieve this.
However, the mooted eco-towns are not the answer to the housing crisis that is engulfing us. House prices have rocketed over the last ten years and affordable housing is now but a distant memory. It is all but impossible to get on the property ladder. Lenders are now offering mortgages calculated at up to seven times income, but that only makes matters worse for borrowers at a time of rising interest rates.
This applies as much in the country as in the towns and cities. In North Wales, the rural areas are experiencing significant outward migration of young people, creating an increasingly elderly population profile.
Brown is, in large measure, himself responsible for our housing problems. His huge increases in stamp duty have significantly increased the overheads associated with house buying; the ludicrous Home Information Packs will only add to the burden. Council tax inflation – even higher in Wales than in England, because of revaluation and rebanding - has been stoked up by Brown’s use of the system as another stealth tax.
The eco-town idea (if it is indeed ever developed beyond the leadership campaign period) will not address the crisis in any way; what is needed is affordable housing in the areas where people want to live and work, not in cantonments remote from the major commercial centres.
I have a friend who is expecting her first baby in a few weeks’ time. Whilst excited at the prospect, she tells me that she is truly concerned that her child may never be able to afford a home to live in. That is deeply worrying, and is the big issue that Brown – and every other politician, for that matter – should be addressing. Posturing simply won’t do.
1 comments:
Hi David
Well done on the Blog. It is a shame that politicians are so caught up in environmental issues these days, especially Mr Brown spouting on about eco friendly towns etc. Whilst I agree that it is important, and we should all make an effort to be green, I do feel that we would be better able to deal with the planets problems if we sorted out our education system, our health system, our transport system, our unemployment problems etc. Better educated, healthy, secure people can concentrate on saving the environment.
Regards Jonathen
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