Letter to the Fulham and Hammersmith Chronicle
Dear Sir,
The suggestion from the Labour MP Andrew Slaughter that those of us who dislike tower blocks should support Ken Livingstone to be restored as Mayor of London shows Slaughter has a short memory. When residents objected to a ten storey tower block on the Allied Carpets site just north of Ravenscourt Park, Livingstone tried, unsuccessfully, to push it through. When the Prestolite site in Larden Road was revised with a reduced height he tried to scupper the changes to a more attractive scheme thus threatening a delay to the much needed extra housing.
The truth is that Labour have offered kneejerk opposition to all development since they lost control of the Hammersmith and Fulham Council five years ago. They say they understand the need for more housing yet when more housing is proposed their councillors on the planning committee have voted against it en bloc every single time.
Slaughter should reflect on his own record of failure on housing during his ten years as Council leader. He might find some new data from the housing charity Shelter instructive. When he ceased being council leader in 2005 there were 1,825 household in temporary accommodation in this borough. Often it would mean hostels or overcrowded conditions. Temporary accommodation manages to combine being expensive for the taxpayer and dreadful for the tenants. It is now down to 881.
There were 2,590 homes left empty. It is now down to 1,922. In 2005/06 there were only 130 new affordable homes delivered. For 2009/10, the latest figures quoted by Shelter, the figure was 570. Labour did nothing to help families get on the housing ladder with low cost home ownership schemes.
Of course there will always be legitimate criticisms about the details of different planning proposals. But instead of being a credible, constructive opposition Labour are nattering nabobs of negativism - while not even having the decency to apologise for their own abject record.
Yours sincerely,
Cllr Harry Phibbs
(Ravenscourt Park Ward. Conservative.)
Hammersmith Town Hall,
King Street,
W6 9JU.
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