The Conservatives are caught in a catch-22 when it comes to new homes
This was no isolated hit. The Conservatives suffered across the south-east. In nearby Tandridge, where a plan to build 4,000 homes on protected green-belt land was angrily attacked by locals, the Tories lost control of the council, with voters drifting to residents’ groups and independents. In Essex, Residents for Uttlesford, which was founded partly to oppose the local council’s controversial planning schemes, gained 17 seats. The Conservatives lost 19.
Housing is an existential problem for the Tories. As a rough rule, people who own their homes are more likely to be Conservative . So the falling rate of homeownership—now, at 64%, back to its level in the mid-1980s—is ominous for the party. No wonder, then, that the housing department says it is “unashamedly and relentlessly” focused on boosting this figure.
Yet more building can lead to a backlash, as Tory councillors in Guildford and beyond can attest. It represents a Conservative catch-22: the party must build houses to attract new voters, but cannot do so without annoying their current backers. Guildford demonstrates why. Even if every site in the local housing plan were built on, the area would still be green and pleasant. Green-belt land would fall from making up 89% of the borough to 86.4%. A disused airfield, which is classed as green-belt despite being a big slab of concrete, is one of the sites earmarked for housing. “Areas of outstanding natural beauty”—the picture-postcard parts—would be almost entirely untouched.
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