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Housing minister, John Healey, has dismissed Liberal Democrat claims they would build more social housing than Labour and the Conservatives, amid evidence that flagship Lib Dem councils have snubbed government offers of cash for new projects. Mr Healey told The MJ he rejected the claim over new-builds because Lib Dem councils, including Liverpool, Newcastle and Hull, had not bid to build new council housing under the Government's £1.5bn Housing Pledge programme. Mr Healey has named 47 authorities which will receive £127m to kick-start new building, the largest direct council house-building programme since 1992, but only Sheffield and Bristol featured among major Lib Dem-run cities that successfully bid. ‘The Lib Dems' concerns about housing shortage might be taken more seriously if their supposedly-flagship councils across the north of England had shown any interest in bidding for the new investment available within our £1.5bn Housing Pledge,' Mr Healey said. Lib Dem housing spokeswoman, Sarah Teather, had pledged to give councils power to build more homes. Speaking at the party's annual conference in Bournemouth on 21 September, Ms Teather said: ‘We will free councils to build thousands and thousands of extra social homes.' She added that Section 106 agreements – which allow councils to impose specific infrastructure requirements on developers – had ‘dried up' during the recession. But Paul Brant, deputy leader of the Labour group at Liverpool, said the city's Lib Dem leaders had ‘actively resisted' Section 106 agreements to help build new housing since 1998. He accused the city's leaders of ‘hostility' to direct housing investment. A Lib Dem source at Liverpool said housing associations had been ‘incredibly busy' across the city, and added that the party's focus had often been renovating existing stock.

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Lib Dem claims to build more homes dismissed

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