Brentwood Housing – waiting list rises 223% under the Tories

Since the Tory administration took over from the Liberal Democrats in 2004 the council's waiting list for Housing has risen from 777 to 3,054 and yet there is no effective strategy in place to address the issue.

Cllr Vicky Davies, Pilgrims Hatch and a former Chair of the Housing Panel and Council Leader under the Lib Dem administration, said:

"This demonstrates just how the Tories running Brentwood Council are failing the residents who need most help in our borough. This is a total lack of management and I am shocked to learn the waiting list is so high.

"This cannot be laid at the financial situation as the national average is a rise of 27% or a population rise as our population has only risen by 11% in that time."

"My biggest concern is the Tories' lack of committment to provide social housing in an area of highly priced property. Local connection for housing allocation is excellent but the homes have to be built to make words reality."

Lib Dem Leader, Cllr David Kendall, added:

"It is time this Tory administration took the waiting list issue seriously and put together a credible action plan to really address the problem. There are many people born and bred in Brentwood who are desperate to get their own home and who have been on the waiting list for years. They are fed up with the warm words and sympathy for their plight from the Tories, they now want to see new properties being built and real progress finally being made"