| Topic: | Hammersmith Council accused of a return to gerrymandering | |
| Posted by: | Justine Fox | |
| Date/Time: | 22/07/09 22:09:00 |
| Tribune 17th July 2009 http://www.tribunemagazine.co.uk/2009/07/17/tory-council-accused-of-return-to-gerrymandering/ Tory councillors have been accused of “social cleansing” working class tenants following the discovery of documents revealing plans to gerrymander votes. Labour MP Andy Slaughter has used freedom of information legislation to force the publication of the files in the west London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. The documents show that officials from the Tory-controlled council planned a radical overhaul of the council’s housing policy, overturning the right to a home for life and calling for rents to be set at market levels. This could potentially mean a two-bedroom flat, currently available to council tenants at £85 a week, costing up to £360 a week. An increase on that scale would mean only the well-off – or those more likely to vote Conservative – would be able to afford to live in such properties. Mr Slaughter, who is currently the MP for Ealing, Acton and Shepherds Bush but will be standing in Hammersmith and Fulham at the next general election, claims the plans he has uncovered “use the language of social cleansing, without respect to age, vulnerability or human rights. This is social engineering on a grand scale and is being recommended to David Cameron as the way forward in housing”. The plans by the Conservative authority involve large-scale demolition of council homes in some areas. The council has been cited as an example of excellence by Tory leader David Cameron. But the row over the housing plans has echoes of the “gerrymandering” attempted by Shirley Porter when she led a Conservative-controlled Westminster council in the 1980s. Sources close to decision makers at Hammersmith and Fulham told Tribune that council officials had been warned to avoid the use of language which could in any way lead to a direct comparison between the action being planned in Hammersmith and Fulham and the illegal activities carried out by Dame Shirley. The documents released to Mr Slaughter form part of Hammersmith and Fulham council’s Local Development Framework (LDF) Core Strategy options and contain repeated calls for “decent neighbourhoods’”. Instead of investing in those neighbourhoods deemed “not decent”, plans exist to demolish them instead, potentially destroying entire working-class communities. Mr Slaughter believes he has evidence to show complicity between the leaders of the Tory council in Hammersmith and Fulham, the national Tory Party leadership and right-wing think-tank Localis. There is evidence that the current Conservative front bench, as well as Tory London Mayor Boris Johnson, were aware of the proposals made by the council. The released documents show that Richard Blakeway, Mr Johnson’s housing advisor, also questioned how long a council tenant should be allowed to remain in their property. An email from Mr Blakeway said: “Very interesting. My big point, which the front bench know, is units not being tied to tenure.” He also praised the housing policy research calling its findings “impressive”. Hammersmith and Fulham’s radical attempts at social engineering have attracted heavy criticism from outside the Tory Party, with both local Liberal Democrats and Labour calling for an urgent rethink of the strategy that will not only increase homelessness in the borough but also dramatically affect those council wards currently held by the opposition. Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone said: “The last thing Londoners need in a recession, when the supply of cheap homes for rent has dried up, is an advisor to the Mayor adding to people’s fears about the future of their home by wanting to tear up their tenancy rights. Londoners want new homes at affordable rents to be built, not throwbacks to the Thatcherite housing policy.” Meanwhile, Boris Johnson has yet to fulfil his pre-election pledge to build at least 50,000 new affordable homes, blaming the lack of delivery on the economic crisis. The Mayor has not indicated how many of these 50,000 properties will be available for rent to social tenants, as opposed to low-cost properties for sale or co-ownership, which the Tories often present as an alternative to genuine social housing. As anger mounts among residents in Hammersmith and Fulham, who fear they might be affected by the proposals, a series of meetings to demonstrate local resistance to the plans is being planned. There has also been a call to picket local housing offices in the borough. Street stalls alerting residents to the details of the planned demolitions are also being planned in and around the area. |