Affordable Housing money plundered by Tory Council

Affordable Housing is a real issue in Warwick & Leamington. Even people with well paid jobs struggle to find somewhere to live. So you can imagine my disbelief when I find that the Tory Council have taken money set aside to assist affordable housing for two other projects.

Now when The ‘Right to Buy’ of Council homes by sitting tenants was introduced by Thatcher in 1980, the money raised from the sale of over 4000 homes in Warwick District was put in a reserve to help development costs for housing associations to enable them to provide affordable homes for local people.

At a Council budget meeting on Thursday, £320,000 for the purchase of Oakley Wood and a further £100,000 to fund the Rural Initiatives Scheme was taken from this money. I am sure the two projects are quite laudable, yet why were they not funded from the £2M sitting in the General Reserve.

It really goes to show just how serious the Tories were during their election campaign when they pledged to improve housing in the area and only 9 months later they plunder the fund set aside for that purpose.