An Isle of Wight councillor is calling on people renting their properties through AirBnB to think of others and provide housing for Islanders instead.
In a meeting of the council’s corporate scrutiny committee yesterday (Tuesday), Cllr Michael Lilley said everyone needed to work together to fix the Island’s housing crisis solving the ‘real issues’ which have created it.
A perfect storm
He highlighted the increasing costs of bringing building materials to the Island, the withdrawal of private houses from the rental sector and the increasing number of second homes.
Similar to authorities in Cornwall, Cllr Lilley said the Isle of Wight council should be speaking to government and seeing if legislation could be brought in to protect the Island from second homes.
Should be working with the council
He said the council should be using the forums it has with landlords, developers and housing associations to say if they are on the Island, they should be working with the council to solve the crisis and provide housing for future generations.
Cllr Lilley also said they need to bring communities together and ask people to stop using their properties for AirBnB, instead providing housing for others.
His speech was during discussions on the council’s efforts to contribute to affordable housing and the draft Island Planning Strategy.
‘Pitiful’ number of houses for temp accommodation
The number of houses the council proposes to buy this year to provide temporary accommodation (25) was criticised and branded ‘pitiful’ by Cllr Joe Robertson, leader of the Conservatives at County Hall, when there were more than 2,500 people on the council’s housing register.
Stephens: Council has to do its due diligence
Cllr Ian Stephens, housing cabinet member, said Islanders would understand the council has to do its due diligence and be careful when spending public money.
He said they were not heartless and if he had an open wallet he would look after all those in temporary accommodation.
Stephens: Not succeeding, but also not failing
Cllr Stephens said he was not happy with the position the council was in, and while he did not think they were succeeding he also did not think they were failing.
He said they were not putting all their eggs in one basket to acquire properties to help the council’s housing needs, with five or six different means and the option of building.
Lilley: Plans needs to be approved
Cllr Lilley said the council cannot let the plan be stalled any further, needing it to be approved in September, because the longer the authority was left without it, the more ‘developers would love it’.
Without an up-to-date planning strategy, coupled with the failure to build houses, the Isle of Wight Council suffers from planning constraints which fall in favour of development.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may have been made by OnTheWight. Ed
