Call for action to tackle housing shortage

Gloucester City Council says around 4,700 people are on its waiting list for housing.

There are calls for a city with 4,700 people on its housing waiting list to do more to tackle the problem.

Labour Councillors in Gloucester have presented plans to the city's Liberal Democrat leadership, which they say would make the market fairer.

The proposals include first-time buyers getting priority on new affordable housing, and a minimum 30% of all new housing to be affordable, up from 20%.

The plans were submitted in response to a call from the city's Liberal Democrats to hear other parties' ideas.

'More needs to be done'

When Labour councillors met with housing cabinet member Luke Shervey (LD, Longlevens), they also suggested a new social housing development company be set up to ensure high quality and consistent development and investment in social housing, as well as new homes specifically for veterans.

Labour group leader Terry Pullen (L, Moreland) said: “Housing brings stability, security and safety, however, for too many this is simply beyond their reach.

"Many people in Gloucester are being priced out of owning a home, there is a shortage of social housing and private rental costs continue to rise."

The Labour plans criticised the previous Conservative council administration, saying they had failed to build the new homes the city needs, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

In response, Conservative group leader, Stephanie Chambers (Quedgeley Fieldcourt), said: “The previous Conservative administration also built 1,354 homes in 2022/23 for Gloucester residents of which 417 were affordable homes.

"This is the largest number of homes built in a single year since our records began."

Councillor Shervey said the aim is to take a collaborative approach to tackling housing issues within Gloucester, but he did not feel as though some other parties felt the same.

"I reached out to all opposition parties to involve them and to understand issues in their respective wards, only Labour took me up on this offer," he said.