Don't give our homes away

The Housing and Planning Bill 2015-2016 includes measures to sell "high value" council homes in St Albans off to the highest bidder. The government have not defined what is meant by the term "high value" and won't do so until after the bill is passed. Housing charity Shelter have estimated that using a standard definition of "high value" would mean the loss of approximately 60% of the council homes in St Albans or 2993 homes.

The money from the sale of these properties will be handed over to the government, with the local council keeping a tiny fraction. If the homes are sold for an average of £150,000 (a fraction of what they are likely to be sold for) then local tax payers will lose more than £500m. By signing this petition

At a time of the worst housing crisis since the war, we need more housing not less. These plans will lead to a reduction of council stock and affordable housing to rent.

UPDATE: New amendments to the bill tabled by the Secretary of State Greg Hands in January 2016 also make provision for Developers to nominate private companies to process their planning applications. We worry an individual or organisation that submits a planning application will be free to shop around for whichever alternative provider they think can give them the best chance of getting a planning application accepted. These idea has already been trialed in St Albans and experienced issues, we are also worried about the effect of any privatisation of the planning process on the engagement of local people in planning applications. Many companies may prioritise speed over quality in determining applications.