The Tories are inextricably associated with Maggie Thatcher and her decimation of mining communities and the unforgivable selling-off of Council housing stock, and their refusal to allow Councils to reinvest the take from that into further 'social' housing.
There are millions of square feet of refurbishable office blocks lying empty around Brighton, where there is a housing shortage (as there is all over the UK) for young people and small families. These could easily be knocked into very nice apartments, with communal gardens and car-parking space as well. But, while I'd love to say the Council is Tory and that not taking such a proactive approach is down to them, we are in fact Labour, so there's no excuse for them not picking up that baton and redressing the previous party's wrongs. They have had 13 years in which to at least get housing right, but, having failed to provide the nation with a secure and competent Home Office, having given us an NHS which has spent well over £2bn on a computer system which is still not working efficiently and may well be scrapped, after continuing to allow commuters to be held to ransom by ever-increasing capitalist rail companies while at the same time battering the motorist with shite roads and higher taxes on vehicles and fuel... it's no wonder that these buildings, all over the country, languish into decrepitude and decay, instead of being revived. We don't need NEW houses on green belt sites, Mr Brown - no doubt some sort of spiteful poke in the eye to what Labour considers the well-heeled county set, in a pathetic retro-working class move - we already have the buildings close to schools, shops, hospitals, and with existing utilities and roadworks. We just need them taken away from absentee owners and made good for the existing need.
