Slough condemns government housing figures
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has estimated that Slough does not need to build any new households between now and 2016.
Slough Borough Council say these figures are not fit for purpose as it estimates that some 10,000 new migrant workers have come to the town since 2004 and that housing needs to keep pace with population growth.
Andrew Blake-Herbert, director for Slough finance and property, said: “These figures go totally against what we are seeing on the ground in Slough at the moment. New migrants are arriving every day and the demand for housing is high. Our new migrant communities are made up from hard working, diligent people that are bringing great benefit to the town. Like any growing town we need to manage the protection of open space but also accommodate a rise in population.”
The council’s analysis comes on the back of the government’s own admission that 33% of housing increases nationally are necessary to help accommodate a growth in migration to the UK.
However, the government’s projections are so out of tune with what is happening on the ground in Slough because they are based on the same flawed population projections that suggest the town’s population has been decreasing for the past four years.
Slough had the ninth fastest growing population in the country at the 2001 census. Since 2001, flawed annual population estimates have now made the town the second fastest depopulating in the country. This runs contrary to local data sets such as schools rolls and council tax which suggest a strong growth in population.
The Slough council estimates it could lose as much as £15million in local government grant up to the next census in 2011 if the population estimates are not put right.
The council refutes the housing projection for Slough and says it is further evidence that the government’s figures for migration are no longer fit for managing the economy, determining policy or providing local services.
Last year the Office for National Statistics (ONS) responsible for compiling population estimates wrote to four government departments saying: “There is now a broad recognition that available estimates of migrant numbers are inadequate for managing the economy, policies and services.” Letter from Karen Dunnell, National Statistician in May 2006 to four government departments.
Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England complained earlier this year that a lack of information about migrants was hindering his efforts to steer the economy.
Slough Borough Council