North East Housing Disgrace

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 22nd Sep 2009

North East Lib Debs have reacted with outrage to the news that one in four homes owned by councils or social landlords in the North East are considered to be substandard- or "non-decent". Despite these figures, the Government is planning to slash £150 million from its "decent homes" fund.

Decent homes include bathrooms, windows, kitchens, electrical wiring, and heating systems. Many of the homes classified as substandard also fall into the category of fuel poverty, when more than 10% of annual income is spent paying fuel bills.

Neil Bradbury, Lib Dem parliamentary spokesperson for Blaydon, said:

"It is outrageous that thousands of families are living in run-down, overcrowded, cold and draughty housing."

"There is a particular concern for social homes in Blaydon and Winlaton, which appear not to be receiving the same level of investment from the "Decent Homes" programme in Gateshead because they are at the end of the programme funded by the Government. This means that many of these properties will not be benefiting from energy efficiency measures such as double glazing and replacing old boilers with energy efficient ones."

North East MEP, Fiona Hall, who is currently working on new European measures to improve the energy performance of buildings, said:

"We must make sure that whenever a building is renovated, it is done to standards that will save energy and save people money."

"It is simply not acceptable that so many households in the North East find themselves exposed to fuel-poverty. The Government needs to invest more money to bring these homes up to standard."