Housing in Rochdale

Posted By: Alan Taylor
Date Posted: 14/08/2007

I’m fed up with the Labour government forcing decisions on local government and making us wait to see what London has to say. Our new Prime Minister seems no different from the last one and I wish he would trust local people to decide on local matters. We are not waiting for the Labour Government to think about building more social housing – your Council is actually doing this now. Councillor Zulfiqar Ali (Cabinet member for Housing) and I were determined to act quickly on one of our manifesto commitments. We decided in Cabinet to authorise Rochdale Boroughwide Housing to build new Council housing at the Croft Street site.

This Liberal Democrat administration is very proud that these will be the first Council houses built in the Borough for twenty years. We could be waiting for 13 years or more if we had relied on the Labour Government and their recent Housing plans. We urgently need more support now from this government to tackle social housing issues and help those who have been left behind and cannot get on the housing ladder. In the meantime we will do all we can to help build more social housing, something I know Paul Rowen MP also cares deeply about.

I’m delighted that other new homes being built in Rochdale by the Housing Market Renewal Programme received two national housing design awards at a ceremony in London. The awards were for the plans for new housing in Trafalgar Street and the old Dale and Arkwright Mill sites. Councillor Zulfiqar Ali represented the Council and I know he was equally proud of the award, which is a great team effort between many different agencies. We all know how important housing for people right across our Borough.

We are fulfilling our manifesto commitments, despite, not because of this Labour government. I’m not prepared to wait for government departments to decide when Rochdale’s turn should be. We have even renegotiated our contract with Rochdale Boroughwide Housing to make clear this Council’s commitment to building more affordable social housing. We all know about the long-waiting lists for Council housing and now we are doing something about it.