News / Politics

Greens launch local election campaign with pledge to help councils increase supply of affordable housing

By Martin Booth  Thursday Apr 4, 2024

The Green Party launched their nationwide local election campaign in Bristol with a promise to unlock policies that will create hundreds of thousands of affordable homes.

But the party has been criticised for a lack of plans to build new homes.

The party’s co-leader is Clifton Down councillor Carla Denyer, who is not re-standing for her seat at City Hall in May in order to concentrate on her ambition to become MP for the new Westminster constituency of Bristol Central.

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In Bristol, the Greens hope to win a majority of council seats as Bristol moves away from the current mayoral model to a committee system of governance.

At the national campaign launch, Denyer was joined by her fellow co-leader, Adrian Ramsay, who is fighting to win the new Waveney Valley parliamentary seat.

“We desperately need a massive increase in the supply of affordable social housing,” Denyer said at the launch event at Engineers House in Clifton.

“I hear regularly from people who have been living in unacceptable conditions, crying out for a secure home or struggling to make ends meet because their rents are through the roof.

“Councils have a vital role to play but they need a framework that supports them to provide the homes that people desperately need.

“We need to unlock the policies that will make hundreds of thousands of extra council homes available – for good. We also need a fair deal for the millions of people renting in the private sector.”

Policies the Green Party would introduce to help councils increase the supply of affordable housing include providing funding to councils to meet their needs for affordable social housing and lift the overly restrictive rules on council borrowing for housebuilding.

The party estimate that this would ensure at least an extra 150,000 council homes a year are made available through a mix of new build, refurbishment, conversions and buying up existing homes.

 

On Thursday morning, Denyer was asked on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 whether her party opposes building new homes.

Presenter Nick Robinson said that the Greens have opposed building on the former Bristol Zoo site in Clifton, at Baltic Wharf on Spike Island, Dovercourt Road in Lockleaze, Broadwalk shopping centre in Knowle and Ashton Vale.

Denyer responded: “So there are some specific applications where Greens and indeed councillors from other parties will sometimes vote against an application because there are problems with that particular application.

“It might be that there is insufficient affordable housing, it might be that the quality of the housing is simply not meeting the basic standards of decent homes.”

The planned Baltic Wharf development is for 166 flats on the site of the current caravan park – image: Goram Homes

Green councillor for Southville, Tony Dyer, added: “Our policies include increasing affordable housing targets, campaigning for rent controls, making sure the thousands of homes with planning permission are built and setting up an arm’s length housing company to rent out council-owned housing

“While the housing waitlist continues to grow, Bristol Labour takes credit for the thousands of homes built by the private sector while refusing to take responsibility for the 5,000 homes left empty by the private sector.

“We know that building homes that Bristolians cannot afford is not something to celebrate and on its own will not solve the housing crisis.

“I hope that from May we will be able to put our policies into practice to create better homes for Bristol.”

Main photo: Jon Craig

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