Heather is challenging the Council to come clean on just how bad the state of their roads budget is as the number of stretches of road requiring serious repairs continue to mount
Heather
PLEA ON HOUSING CASH
Heather Kidd
has called on Shropshire Council to spend the ‘New Homes Bonus’* in full on providing affordable homes for local people and not divert at least 50% to reserves.
The whole point of this New Homes Bonus is to get councils to build more homes. The Government has given Shropshire approximately £2.8M (with much more in the pipeline) under this grant scheme but the Administration has added at least half of this cash reserves which is hardly the point of the exercise.
Like most areas Shropshire is short of affordable homes, especially the types of houses suitable for young families and for starter homes. House prices across the county have risen so high that even people in relatively well paid jobs such as nurses, policemen and teachers are struggling.
The cash boost also gives Shropshire Council the chance to regenerate town centres, reinvigorate local assets or reinvest in local services and enterprise.