"I want to see more affordable homes in Suffolk Coastal for local people to buy or rent. Decades ago, the old Suffolk Coastal Council transferred their council housing to Flagship Housing Association for them to be efficiently run. Most of the homes are not available for tenants to use the Right to Buy scheme but are being sold off in open auction in places like Aldeburgh, Orford or Snape. Those homes are not being replaced locally but providing funding to build new homes miles away in Newmarket or even Essex. Too often, it seems that they have been sold to people buying them as a second home or to be let out. I raised this scandalous issue in Parliament last month with Michael Gove, the Housing Cabinet Minister, as I want to make sure that housing that was originally given to housing associations stays for local people. Flagship try to suggest that they cannot repair houses economically, but they have not been routinely offering them to the local council. There are restrictions and covenants that could be placed if these were council houses but not on housing association homes. It is clear from talking to Parish Councils and local residents that they want to see change happen. They quite rightly want people that have grown up in their town or village to have priority over non-local residents or those buying second homes. I have previously met Flagship and will do so again to try to get a change in mindset.
I am also trying to engage with East Suffolk Council on this and wider housing issues, like reviewing the Gateway to Choice scheme. East Suffolk affordable housing is open to people from a wide geographical area as far away as Colchester and Braintree. I know there are priorities in that system for some elements of local connection but the often forgotten consequence is that people find themselves a long way from their own support network.
Sticking to the housing theme, I recently attended East Suffolk Council’s exhibition and part of its first public meeting on the North Felixstowe development – a masterplan for building 2,000 new homes and a new leisure centre over a 15-20 year horizon. I fully understand the concerns residents have on impact on the environment, on roads, on key public services but I was particularly surprised that a Lib Dem Cabinet member, Felixstowe councillor Jan Candy, accused the engagement team, whom they appointed, of not providing ‘a great deal of honesty’. It is not right for Cabinet members to distance themselves from such proposals when the Green/Lib Dem run council could look to change the plan nor denigrate the masterplan consultants that they appointed. Whilst providing homes for local people is absolutely essential as I have already set out in this column, I do have my own significant concern on this proposed development. I am particularly surprised by the suggestion that this is all being done for the sake of a better leisure centre, that would attract people from out of town. That certainly should not be the basis for new housing development. I encourage residents to share their view via the ‘have your say’ tab at: www.northfelixstowe.co.uk and also to let me know your views by emailing me in Parliament.
Finally, on Saturday night I attended the Ipswich Vigil for Ukraine marking two-years since Russia’s full scale invasion. The UK continues to stand with the Ukrainian people as it has done from the very beginning, providing military, humanitarian and economic support. My huge thanks go to those who have offered their homes to our Ukrainian guests. Those who have arrived in our county have become important parts of our community and I have had the privilege to spend time with some of them and hear their inspirational stories. I really hope these families get a chance to return to their homeland as soon as they can but, in the meantime, I know they will continue to receive a warm welcome here in Suffolk."