Written by Loretta Vendetta Thursday, 21 May 2009 00:00
Westminster City Council’s new Deputy Cabinet member for Housing Policy believes in turning all council rented flats into “tied cottages” where tenants would be evicted when they leave their jobs.
Councillor Dr Ian Rowley, who was promoted by Council leader Colin Barrow this week, wrote an article for think tank Localis earlier this year. In the article, he accuses people living in council and housing association flats in Westminster of enjoying £1 million subsidies “in many cases”. He says that “lifetime assured tenure needs to be removed”.
After urging that council flats be sold off and tenants shifted to outer London, he urges that new tenancies are kept short-term tenancies and to bring back a tied cottage system in central London.
Rowley says: “Key workers in both the private sector and public sector needed to fill jobs, for social balance and social cohesion should have access as part of their employment terms”, with access to housing depending on “contribution to society”.
Read more: Shock at Westminster promotion of "tied cottage" Tory
