Councillors clash over social housing need in Northumberland

The latest clash has seen Conservative leader of Northumberland County Council accuse the Labour Party of ‘misleading’ residents over the county’s housing needs.

In turn, Labour has accused the Tories of failing to understand the lives of residents living in social housing.

A leaflet circulated by Labour claimed there were around 14,000 people in Northumberland in need of housing. It comes amid controversy over the Government’s new housing figures for the county, with the annual target for new homes increasing from 549 to 1,649.

But leader Glen Sanderson pointed out that the 14,000 figure was the total number of people on the county’s housing register, regardless of need. It followed a question from Tory councillor for Seghill Eve Chicken on whether Labour’s figure was correct.

Cllr Sanderson said: “They are wrong. Some members of the Labour Party realise they’re wrong and are being deliberately misleading. That’s always very disappointing.

“We have around 14,000 people registered on Homefinder. Something like 350 are in urgent need of housing – the vast bulk is made up of around 9,000 people who are already in housing.

“They are not homeless, nor are they threatened with homelessness. Of that 9,000, something like 3,500 don’t even live in Northumberland.

“I regret the fact that it is very misleading.”

Labour leader Cllr Scott Dickinson said: “This is a clear lack of understanding from mostly wealthy Conservative councillors who have never had to engage or deal with issues like this or understand how the social housing world works.

“There are thousands of people on the register who are in desperate need of housing. The Tories are trying to make it look as though it is not as bad as it seems.

“There are people living in overcrowded homes, people trying to escape violent relationships and older people who are living downstairs and need a bungalow – all classed as adequately housed. The system is over 20 years old and it doesn’t have any scale of need.

Cllr Chicken also raised concerns that the new housing target would see homes built on green belt land. The Government has announced plans to build on so-called grey belt land – defined in the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) as ‘land in the Green Belt comprising previously developed land’.

Prior to the election, Labour referred to the likes of car parks, scrubland and disused petrol stations as examples of grey belt land.

Cllr Sanderson continued: “I would say no more building on the green belt. We have built 12,000 homes in Northumberland in recent years and 10,000 more have planning permission.

“I keep hearing residents say we have had enough housing, we don’t want any more. We haven’t got the roads, the schools, or the whole situation to be able to take these houses.”

The latest figures from the council show there are more than 10,000 surplus school places within the county.

Figures from the council itself showed that an average of 1,552 new homes have been constructed each year since 2016/17. The highest number were built in 2018/19, when 1,802 homes were constructed.