Housing
The Foundation of a Flourishing City
Scaling Ambition
The national housing market is fundamentally unfair, leaving a generation unable to achieve the security their parents enjoyed. In Newcastle, we will mirror the national Liberal Democrat commitment to a "Fair Deal for Housing" by noticeably increasing the volume of affordable homes.
- We will move beyond the current stagnation by increasing the requirement for social and affordable housing on new estates from 15% to 30%.
- We will work as "active partners" with Housing Associations to ensure that new developments are not just luxury enclaves, but mixed-tenure communities that foster organic solidarity.
- Borrowing to build is a core Liberal Democrat tenet, successfully deployed for residents' benefit in Lib Dem-led local authorities across the country. Locally, we will increase borrowing specifically to accelerate the refurbishment of "void" properties, ensuring that existing assets are not left to decay while thousands wait for a key.
- We will appoint a dedicated manager for the Forth Yards development, to ensure this critical gateway to the city is delivered with professional rigour and effective cross-body collaboration. In this way, we will establish a new model for delivering headline projects effectively at pace.
Radical Transparency
We believe that progress is grounded in data, and understanding the reality of the situation we live in. We cannot fix a crisis we cannot see.
- We will completely revamp the city’s data on vacant sites. By identifying small, overlooked plots, we can build "clusters" of properties that integrate seamlessly into established neighbourhoods.
- Following national Liberal Democrat policy, we commit to developing a comprehensive and transparent land map through a public register of developable land, stripping away the information asymmetry that often only benefits large-scale developers.
Setting the Standard
We will adopt the Liberal Democrats' Higher Minimum Standards, a 21st-century update to current housing standards that reflect new expectations on energy efficiency, safety and space. Newcastle should not just build more homes: we must build better homes that are fit for the future and tackle the climate emergency head-on.