I today received a Lib Dem 'Focus' through the door which apears to imply that they want a massive increase in the number of homes built in Tandridge in order to provide affordable housing. This is quite simply the only conclusion that could be drawn. But they do not say where they intend for these houses to be built.
They claim that TDC is 'failing to deliver affordable housing'. This is simply not true, I believe Tandridge has an excellent record at providing afforable housing, and even in the depths of the recesssion we managed to secure 49 new social homes over the past year (against its target of 50).
It is certainly true that there not enough affordable homes for all who would like to live in the district. But, the stark reality is that with nearly 95% of the district being Green Belt land there are never going to be enough without large scale building on the green belt. Even this Labour Government accepted this fact by giving Tandridge the 2nd lowest target for house building in the South East of 250 new homes per year. And even if these were 100% affordable - this would still not be nearly enough to meet demand.
Therefore like most fellow residents I agree with our policies which take into account the fact that Tandridge is mostly green belt and does not have the space or infrastructure to support a massive home building plan. Within these constraints the Council will continue to deliver in a senetive way significant numbers of afforable homes for local people to rent and buy.
So I challenge the Lib Dems to tell where they plan to build their new homes, which fields they plan to concrete over, which gardens they would like to grab.
