Campaigners urge council to invest more in housing to meet 'crisis level' needs

The community-led petition, launched in Witney yesterday, hopes to amass enough support to force the hand of West Oxfordshire District Council into using its reserves - of which about £12m are uncommitted and usable - to invest in an affordable housing solution.

It has been started amid concerns people in the district are spending months in unsuitable emergency accommodation and being separated from their families as a result of the housing crisis.

Launching the petition was Luci Ashbourne, an accounts assistant from Ashcombe Crescent.

The 36-year-old said: “As Witney sees entire generations financially exploited by extreme with rising rents, with little to no chance of access to home ownership, we need to remember that this is not the status quo.

“Everyone in the community should be able to live here without being financially oppressed, or held back from aspirations of a better life."

The campaign hopes to see the district council lend money to housing associations like Cottsway or invest in social housing itself, but the first step is getting the matter discussed by councillors, which will happen if the petition receives 1,500 signatures.

Deborah Robson-Grey, of Welch Way, who is backing the campaign, has first hand experience of the struggle to find housing.

Following a fall which led to an infection, Ms Robson-Grey had her right leg amputated below the knee, making her housing requirements more specific than most.

When seeking a property in 2016, she and her daughter were moved around several hotels for nearly a year before being housed.

The 50-year-old said: "After finding ourselves in emergency and temporary accommodation for 10 months, costing the public thousands because no suitable housing was available or planned, I feel very strongly that public money should be better spent on building and converting properties using monies that West Oxfordshire District Council already has unallocated in reserves."

The campaign has gained the support of Labour councillors, including district councillors Andrew Coles and Duncan Enright and county councillor Laura Price.

They say they have been contacted by on-call firefighters who said their struggle to afford rental prices close enough to the fire station may mean they are not able to continue in the roles.

District council spokesman Andrew Smith said proposals were being examined to appoint a housing property manager who, once in place, would seek out a properties for the council to buy to be used specifically for emergency accommodation.

Another proposed appointment would see an officer dedicated to working with the private sector to release more accommodation as well as overseeing loan funding for deposits, fees and payments of rent in advance.

He also mentioned the council's partnership purchase scheme, in which individuals buy a share in a home with the council funding the rest, and the community self-help project.

He added: “Since 2011 the council has secured delivery of around 500 new affordable homes within the district and through a combination of current commitments and sites identified in the emerging Local Plan, several thousand more affordable homes of a range of different tenures will be delivered by 2031.

"There are also in the order of 300 planned for delivery from the West Witney site over the next two years or so and the council has recently approved planning on 70 units behind Springfield Oval in Witney."

The council has about £12m of uncommitted usable funds – but said these are revenue funds, often used to support service delivery, and are typically used to ensure that the council does not have to make knee jerk service cuts as central government reduces funding to local authorities.

A spokesman for Cottsway, the district's leading housing association, said it hoped to build more than 752 extra homes for affordable rent or shared ownership over the next six years.

See the petition at cmis.westoxon.gov.uk/cmis/ePetitions.aspx