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Provision of council houses is a bandwagon worth getting on
• I READ your comment on page 15 (August 9), on the possible fate of the British Library vacant site.
My pet cause is the continued provision of council housing for those without much hope of getting onto the first rung of the house-purchasing ladder. It would be fine if Frank Dobson would not only climb onto this bandwagon, but could be persuaded to drive it.
In the meantime, what follows is, with some amendment, the text of an email that I sent to Jo Peace of the housing renewals and adult social services department, in which I said: The main consideration now is to call a definite halt to the sale of council housing, because the system is being misused by many buyers who sub-let at exorbitant rents, and finance the purchase of houses elsewhere, from those inflated rents, which in many cases might not be declared for tax purposes.
Of course, this is what Thatcherism is all about, but I would have thought, indeed hoped, that we in Camden would have risen above such things. We need much more council housing in our central London borough: (a) for the many families that are in dire need of comfortable, affordable accommodation; (b) those who would like to become owners, but because of the current surge in house prices are unable to purchase anything, even the “grottiest” of shabby single rooms; and (c) people like myself who could have, but never wanted to own property.
In any event, the council should not be selling any property that rightfully belongs to the constituents that voted them in. This applies as much to vacant brown field sites as it does to buildings. It is essential these matters come under discussion, without further delay.
STAN FREED
Sidmouth Mews Estate, WC1
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