00:00you'll be glad to hear it's over to you and it's on the issue of housing what are the plans for
00:06increasing affordable housing which is accessible to people who have a connection to Fylde. Andrew
00:13start with you. I think the absolute key thing around house building is that it is done in a
00:19responsible way and the key thing for me is yes we need to build more affordable homes but we also
00:26need to protect our greenbelt across the Fylde and make sure that we don't do that at the expense
00:32of countryside that once we have built on we can never get back and therefore the conservative
00:38strategy around freeing up more brownfield sites around looking at redevelopment of existing sites
00:45is what we need to absolutely back. There's been about 2.5 million homes been built since 2010
00:52so the number of homes that have been built is significant the demand will always continue to
00:58increase as our population grows it's another reason why I believe the immigration controls
01:05are correct as well because we've got to have the housing but we need the infrastructure that
01:10we need as well and therefore I support the conservative manifesto around redevelopment
01:14of brownfield sites and the strategy around that because we have to do this in a responsible way.
01:20Just very briefly how can you ensure that affordable homes in somewhere like Fylde
01:24are genuinely affordable to local people and haven't just got the affordable badge planted on them?
01:32And it is a fair challenge and that is why that they put the affordable homes
01:36shares into new development sites because at the end of the day
01:40the Fylde is a beautiful wonderful place and it is a desirable place that is therefore
01:46expensive and it's about striking that balance between making projects viable and about giving
01:52people the homes that they want because there are lots of people who want to move to Fylde
01:56and buy expensive homes as well so it's about doing it in balance.
02:02Mark can we hear you on this particular one provision of affordable housing in Fylde is it
02:06an issue as you see it? It is it's an issue not just in Fylde but it isn't right that people can
02:12live in housing that damages their health and what we would like is a fair deal
02:20is a fair deal for renters as well it's not just about home ownership it is about renting
02:27and we would immediately ban no-fault evictions with default three-year tenancies
02:34and a national register of licensed landlords that is one way to start to begin to address
02:41the rented area. We would also abolish residential leaseholds and the capping of ground rents to a
02:48nominal fee. I must admit it was probably a few years ago I first came across this canvassing
02:56a certain area where people were telling me that they kind of had the freehold but it was kind of
03:01leasehold and they could be charged for a load of other stuff as well really confusing just that
03:08overall residential leasehold should be abolished simple and I think the other
03:14aspect as well around home building is house building is not for it to be done to you
03:21that I think communities must lead those developments and be a part of those
03:26developments so they are all cornerstones of what the Liberal Democrats would bring to housing.
03:32So I'm going to come to you next on this one. Is affordable housing in its current form
03:36fit for purpose in your view? Clearly not when people are having to move away to to afford a
03:42home. So what are we going to do? Well priority for first-time buyers increased stamp duty for
03:50overseas investors who are stamping up homes as a simple investment opportunity and denying them
03:56to people who live here. Holding local government to account on having properly consulted properly
04:02laid out local plans that pick the right locations for housing and then make sure
04:08that those locations housing are built in that additional stamp duty on overseas buyers will go
04:13to support more planning officers so that developers aren't able to ignore the conditions
04:19that are imposed on planning around affordable housing so that we actually hold them to account
04:24on that. We will scrap leaseholds, everyone will have the freehold of their home when they buy it
04:32and for blocks of flats that will be common hold so that instead of having to pay another company
04:37for your building you'll be held in common with the other people there. But the other thing
04:43Mark alluded to is where your developer has signed a contract apparently on your behalf
04:50for maintenance services with opaque charges and you just get a whacking great bill for a bit of
04:54grass cutting and hedge trimming on common areas on an estate. No, that will be given into the
05:00control of people living on those estates and they will have the option to find a better supplier
05:06locally do it themselves. What won't happen is they will not be tied into these contracts
05:13with often quite big companies who don't really care as well. That's all about making housing
05:18affordable. There's also social housing, there has been too much to-ing and fro-ing on schemes for
05:23funding social housing. I was talking to a couple of social housing providers the other day in
05:30Bolton, they're building some new homes but what's the problem? Every time it's small pots of money
05:34that they have to go chasing, all they need is some trust and some stability so that they know
05:39what they're doing long term they can bring forward projects and they can assemble land.
05:44That will help affordability too with some of the products that they have to help people on to
05:49owning by renting, rent-to-buy, staircase and a number of other schemes. That's all part of making
05:57it affordable but the other thing has to be that we deal with things like energy prices, we make
06:02sure those are low and stable because the cost of owning a home aren't just the cost of buying it,
06:07we need to tackle the cost of living too. Tom, thank you, and then just want to do the challenge.
06:13I totally agree actually Tom with most things you've said but we're filed, everybody wants to
06:22come and live here so we're building houses but we're not planning, we're not putting anybody to,
06:29you know, we're not, the building houses, the farmers are getting the fields flooded,
06:34they're not doing it correctly. Another thing is they're not putting in any infrastructure.
06:40We're bringing all these people into the filed, we're not building any more schools,
06:45we've no more GPs, we've got less dentists, so we're just making everybody come here without
06:52thinking about what we're doing. I'm not too happy about over developing it. We want our children
07:00to work in the filed if they do and have affordable housing. I'm not really happy about
07:05people having a second home, use it as an Airbnb, not being used. I just think the whole thing
07:11needs to be thought out as filed and how we are in filed. We're a small area really, we're a
07:18beautiful area, everybody wants to move here but we can't just keep building and building and
07:23building without any infrastructure. But yeah, Tom, you're quite right with what you said about
07:28these, well done, totally agree with you about all that but I'm not really happy about over
07:34developing. I'm sorry if you don't agree with me.
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