Two birds with one green stone

I note that Ken Livingstone has called for a new wave of council houses to be built and for rents to be capped.

The latter I wont comment on but the earlier is a point close to my heart. I was bought up happily on a council estate where we played freely without the restrictions of fear that kids of today are constrained by. Living on a council estate back then had little social stigma compared with today as most people then lived on these often vast estates built after the war. The houses were (mostly) solidly built and things could get tough on the estate at times in my later teens but we never experienced any social prejudice just because that’s where we lived.

During the Thatcher era that of course all changed and I remember my father complaining about this and foretelling of the pending issues down the line. As a plasterer the long period of re-building gave him work and us in turn, sustenance.

Years on, I see my fathers point and agree that a lack of affordable rented property has caused major problems in towns and cities all over the UK. I agree with Livingstone (for once) and believe it is time for the government to fund a programme of social housing, but in these times of rising energy bills suggest that the government should insist that ALL new built homes under an agreed scheme are firstly

insulated

to a high standard to keep heating and power bills to a minimum and secondly to ensure all homes where possible have some form of

renewable energy system such as solar, bio-mas or heat pumps.

This would also help this country hit its renewable energy targets of 15% by 2020 AND help kick along a the economy as house building is always one of the main triggers to lead us out of a reccession.