Green Party against housing development claims city councillor

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 16th Apr 2007

In a letter to the EDP, Cllr Judith Lubbock, Sustainability spokesperson for the City Council Lib Dems, writes:

"All the main political parties are agreed that there needs to be more social housing. What we are not all agreed upon is how this should be achieved.

"Currently the Norwich Local Plan which is a guide to development in Norwich states that 'up to 30% social housing will be sought' on new developments of

over 25 units. So in order to get 30% social housing there needs to be development in the first place. However the Green Party Councillors on the

Planning Committee consistently vote against housing development in the city in favour of supporting local residents and preserving the status quo. It is a good way of garnering support and votes when local elections come round.

"Applications which come to mind include the former Norfolk & Norwich Hospital site, the Barrack Road/Jarrold Site, and more recently the new YMCA.

"By allowing these applications with the necessary conditions valuable brownfield, sustainable sites in the centre are used, yielding hundreds of affordable homes at the same time.

"If the Green Councillors had outvoted the other Members there would be no development and no social housing. How I ask is this helping improve the number of affordable housing units in Norwich?"

Liberal Democrat Councillor Judith Lubbock

Former Chair of Planning

Norwich City Council