A ROW has erupted over comments made about social housing by a senior councillor.

Christine James, who is set to be the next Mayor of Weymouth and Portland and been praised for her work on the Westham housing estate where she lives, has come under fire for remarks in which she blamed social housing for causing problems in communities.

Cllr James spoke at a borough council planning meeting where an application for eight new homes on Portland was debated.

All new market housing developments are required to make affordable housing contributions to councils. Affordable housing can include, but is not limited to, social housing and also covers privately rented and shared ownership homes.

It was learnt at the meeting that due to new government rules the developer didn’t have to make a contribution because of the size of the development.

Cllr Paul Kimber said he was unhappy about the government rules and stressed the acute need for affordable housing in the borough.

This prompted Deputy Mayor Cllr James, who represents the Westham North ward for the Lib Dems, to disagree and say: “As elected members it’s about time we get a bit of backbone. We are never going to be able to house everybody.”

She added: “Having supposedly represented one of the most deprived wards in Weymouth for over ten years, the social housing is what causes most of the problems.”

She said she was ‘sick’ of asking social housing tenants to remove rubbish such as sofas from outside their houses, telling Cllr Kimber, who was shaking his head in disagreement at her remarks: “You can shake your head Paul but it happens.

“The problem goes back to why parents get divorced, why parents throw their kids out. It’s a social problem and it’s a moral problem.”

Cllr James is involved in community groups in Westham and Southill. She was a joint winner of a national award in 2007 to recognise the fact she ‘takes a stand’ against bad behaviour in her community.

Speaking to the Echo after the meeting, Cllr James said she made her remarks in response to Labour councillors whom she claimed were ‘electioneering’.

She added: “I was only saying what developers don’t want to say – that they don’t want social housing because of the problems that end up happening.

“You get problems with people who live in social housing and you get problems with those in private housing but I said what I said because we were talking about social housing. But we can’t deny these problems do happen.”

  • SOCIAL housing, provided by councils and housing organisations, is let at low rents to those in need. In Weymouth and Portland the social housing sector makes up for 16 per cent of the borough’s total housing stock of 29,470 dwellings. There are currently 987 people on the housing register in Weymouth and Portland wanting to be considered for housing.

Cllr told to ‘consider position as Deputy Mayor’

SPEAKING after the meeting, Labour councillor Penny McCartney, pictured right, said Cllr James was ‘demonising’ those in social housing and urged her to ‘consider her position as Deputy Mayor’.

She added: “It’s a one-sided view to blame those who are socially housed or in receipt of benefits.

“Residents that need social housing are often hard working and decent people who simply cannot afford to buy.”

Cllr McCartney added: “There is a huge demand for quality affordable homes and we should be fighting the developers.”

Manager of Weymouth and Portland Citizens Advice Bureau Bob Bullin said Cllr James was ‘stereotyping’.

He continued to say: “We don’t see people who display anti-social behaviour particularly. We see people who are struggling to make sense of the problems they have got, which may be financial, employment or relationship problems.”

The council’s housing spokesman Cllr Kevin Brookes said: “It’s unfair to lump social housing tenants together. Not all of them display anti-social behaviour. I don’t think it’s doing justice to our constituents and I’m sure some people will think twice before going to her with housing problems.”

Cllr James’ Lib Dem colleague, county councillor David Harris, said: “The Lib Dems have always been a group which allows people to say what they think.”

He added: “I’m sure not every Lib Dem member will concur with this particular thinking from Christine.”