Press Release
Council house spending boost welcomed by Unite
11 January 2010
The government's commitment to boosting council housing is in stark contrast to the Tories' plans aimed at the better-off, Unite, the largest union in the country, said today (Monday, 11 January).
Unite was commenting on the announcement by Housing Minister, John Healey which doubled the government cash for new council homes.
Unite deputy general secretary, Jack Dromey said: 'Labour is building Britain out of recession, meeting the need for affordable and energy-efficient homes by putting unemployed construction workers back to work and creating apprenticeship opportunities for the young. And councils will be centre-stage as a new generation of council homes go up.'
'The contrast with the Tories could not be starker. For Labour, decent homes; for Cameron, stately homes with an inheritance tax bonanza for Notting Hill and the richest 3,000 estates in Britain.'
Unite assistant general secretary for the Public Sector, Gail Cartmail said: 'This announcement will pull the rug from under the British National Party intent on peddling myths that the government is not committed to council housing. It is now up to local authorities to work rapidly to get this programme moving.'
Mr Healey said 73 councils covering every region of England will share an extra £122.6 million. Councils will match the government's grant, bringing total public investment in the programme to over £500m to build more than 4,000 new council homes for 8,000 people.
And for the first time, the minister is requiring all councils receiving government funds to offer apprenticeship and local job recruitment schemes, creating 7 500 jobs and around 100 new apprenticeship places.
Last year, Unite unveiled its blueprint, Meeting housing need: Building Britain out of recession which called for a massive council and social house building programme for the 4.5million people on waiting lists.
Such a programme would act as an engine for economic revival generally, by creating thousands of jobs in the construction industry and its suppliers.
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