Derby public housing issue now a political hot potato

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More than 36, 000 homes are to be built in the areas of Derby City Council, South Derbyshire District Council, and Amber Valley Borough Council by 2026.

The three main political parties all maintain that new homes must be built and, as Britain edges out of a lengthy recession, they say more of it should be affordable.

In the Derby North constituency, the question of how to balance the issues is as pertinent as ever, with Mackworth and Littleover among the areas affected by the potential sites.

The Conservative candidate Stephen Mold said, “Labour passes planning issues off to regional assemblies and unelected commissions.

It's always been our policy that we would abolish them but if ever there was a fantastic example of why this should be done it's the current strategic housing plans. At the moment, local people make representations to the council and even if the council agrees with what they are saying it ends up going to the Government office to be overturned.

"We would give the power back to the councils and reward them for building more homes and promoting local economic growth. They could keep more council tax and business rates from new development."

Mr Williamson, Labour, said the important thing was to ensure the right amount of resources were in place to stop areas from being swamped. "There is a shortage of housing but we've got to make sure it's built in the right location. And we've got to make sure that the areas they go in have got the right resources.

Mr Williamson added that Labour would continue to invest in new, affordable council housing.  "I will be pressing the case to ensure Derby City Council gets its proper share of the funding available to provide housing across different parts of the city."

Liberal Democrat candidate Lucy Care said she believed the consultation over the city council's core strategy, which includes the potential housing sites, as well as plans for things like low-cost housing and the environment, had gone well.

But she said that the Government was not taking enough factors, such as students moving away from home to university, into account when it came up with its original housing target figures.

She said that under the Liberal Democrats, local authorities would be allowed to determine how many and what type of homes are built.

She said: "We will not be looking to make our cities bigger but looking at smaller communities in the countryside – allowing rural communities to grow a little instead of imposing thousands of houses on the city in large lumps.

This is necessary because of an increase in growing local produce and an increase in green jobs.

In general:

Conservatives are saying:

1. Scrap stamp duty for first-time buyers on homes up to £250,000.
2. Abolish Home Information Packs.
3.  Reward councils for building homes by allowing them to keep more proceeds from council tax and business rates.
4. Make it easier for social tenants to own or part-own their home.

Labour says:

1. Expand council house-building programme so that up to 10,000 homes a year are built by 2014-5.
2. Allow councils to retain rental receipts to support house-building.
3. Two-year stamp duty holiday for first-time buyers on homes up to £250,000.
4. More powers to councils to manage the development of shared houses.

Liberal Democrats are saying:

1. Ensure repossessions are a last resort.
2. Build tens of thousands of low-cost houses to rent.
3. Scrap regional house-building targets, allowing councils to determine how many homes are needed.
4. Bring a quarter-of-million empty homes back into use.