Crawley housing rents petition won’t be debated until after council election

Councillors have been criticised for not debating a petition about housing rents at a recent Crawley Borough Council meeting.
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And the authority has been called on to hold the debate at a large venue such as The Hawth or K2 leisure centre once it does make it on to the agenda.

The petition, signed by just over 1,000 people, called for new council housing tenants to pay cheaper social rents rather than affordable rents.

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It was handed over at the town hall on March 9 by Robin Burnham and others.

Petitioners outside the Town HallPetitioners outside the Town Hall
Petitioners outside the Town Hall

But during the meeting on Wednesday (March 30), Mr Burnham, of Bewbush, complained that the petition was to be discussed in July rather than before May’s elections.

He told the meeting that he had been assured that that would not be the case and called on councillors to ‘nail their colours to the mast’ and say how they felt about the issue.

The meeting was told that the petition could not be discussed as the council was now in the pre-election period known as Purdah.

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The six-week period places specific restrictions on what councils and councillors can say and do.

Mr Burnham said: “Objectively, your decision has consequences.

Councillors are now able to avoid debating their housing policy before the local election when you want people’s vote.

Housing is very high on people’s priorities and they want to know where councillors stand on building council houses at council rents.”

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There’s quite a difference between the two types of rent – affordable is up to 80 per cent of market rent, while social is 50 per cent.

Currently, only 324 of the town’s council homes are charged affordable rent – about four per cent of its 8,100 stock.

Another 171 are currently being built.

A number of councillors supported the call for the debate to be held at a larger venue – especially when told around 200 people had expressed an interest in attending.

They were told that the venue was an operational matter and the arrangements would be looked at closer to the date of the meeting.

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