IT is well documented that the Government has re-defined affordable homes as costing up to 80 per cent of open market prices which suggests that a three bedroomed rented home on the proposed Vearse Farm development could cost at least £640 per month which means a family needs a gross income of over £30,000 to be able to afford that.
Not very affordable at all.
On top of that Vearse Farm will incorporate nearly 500 open market homes which the Government and the district council maintain are needed to fix our housing shortage. How can they maintain that we need thousands of new open market homes when The Office of National Statistics predicts that the existing west Dorset population is falling and is set to continue to fall for decades ahead?
So, who actually wants the Vearse Farm development? Well, Bridport Town Council have rejected it, so has Symondsbury Parish Council.
If the proposal were just for the affordable homes then they may have felt differently. Despite strong local opposition the District Council wants Vearse Farm. Why is that? Below are three possible reasons.
Council Tax, Affordable Homes Subsidy, Government Housing Bonus. According to an article in the Times newspaper, local authorities are being paid a bonus by the Government for every.
Our Local Plan indicates that the district council plan to build some 12,000 new homes which could mean the district will receive a bonus of £108,000,000.
This includes £5.3 million just for the open market homes on Vearse Farm. I have asked one of our district councillors three times to tell me how much bonus per home the district council stands to receive but my three requests have been totally ignored.
Clearly the District are set to cash in big time from Vearse Farm and from countless other housing projects elsewhere.
Vearse Farm is not just pay day for the district it is jackpot time for the Vearse Farm land owners as well. And a massive profits bonanza for the developers. Have this many £millions ever sloshed around Bridport before?
And how many of these £millions will go to help the 377 households in Bridport that are either homeless or inadequately housed? Answers on a postcard please. Addressed to the district council.
ROY MATHISEN
West Mead,
Bridport
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