The BNP smile on Mike Freer's stupidity

Freer flies the flag
Mike Freer is supposed to be a politician. As leader of the Council he's meant to show leadership. He's meant to take responsible decisions that protect the citizens of Barnet from harm. Now I don't know what Mike Freer's biggest worry in Barnet is, but mine is the possiblity of the BNP gaining popularity. I don't know anyone who absolutely hates black people, so I don't think the BNP's message on race is attractive around here. When the news broke about the BNP membership list, I was pleased to see there was only one member in Mill Hill. The only issue that I can see, where the BNP may make headway is the issue of social housing. I don't for one minute believe that the BNP really care too much about this issue but they know their racist message resonates for young working class people struggling to find a home to start a family. Even with the recent falls in house prices, buying a home, where you have might get 4 times your salary as a mortgage is way beyond the means of people on £10-20,000 per year. In times gone by the first option for people in this position would be council housing. Unfortunately, since the disasterous Thatcherite policy of selling off the Council stock of homes and not replacing them with new ones, the situation in Barnet has deteriorated. As I have mentioned before, the situation is so bad that a friend of mine who is a widow with 4 children, one of whom is disabled, has not received a council house, even though she was made homeless when her husband died in February 2001. Her husband was a driver who worked for many years with London transport and the London Ambulance service. She has been told she doesn't have enough points for Barnet and as such she's still in temporary accomodation. The suggestion from Barnet Council? Move to Norfolk. Rip her children, traumatised by the loss of their father from Cancer away from their friends and give them even more stress.

Fortunately the intervention of Andrew Dismore prevented them from being evicted a couple of years ago, but I think the attitude of Barnet Council is callous and cruel, to a family which has suffered. People such as my friend are in a position where far right organisations such as the BNP will say "Look at all the Council Housing being given to immigrants". As people have a feeling of injustice, they think that these opportunists care about them and fall for this line of reasoning. Now what the BNP don't tell them is that the problem doesn't lie with immigrants at all. It lies with the policies of the Tory Barnet Council. The reason people cannot be housed is that there aren't the homes. There are 13,637 families on the waiting list (of all creeds and colours) They are all deemed to not have "sufficient points". They are all the victims of this injustice. The first job of Mr Mike Freer's council is to look after the most vulnerable people in the borough. Is he doing this? No he's not. He's got a plan to build homes for 80,000 people in Barnet, but how many of these are Council homes for those in temporary accommodation? How many are allocated for the citixens of Barnet who need a home now? Well according to a report in todays Times group, the already shabby figure of 3,369 (just over a fifth of the waiting list) asked for by Boris has been rejected by Mike Freer. He wants to only have between 1,135 and 1,700.

So I ask you this. Do you think that Mike Freer's plan to build 80,000 homes where only one tenth of the people on the waiting list will actually get a home is fair to the citizens of Barnet? Personally I think that the plans for this many dwellings will not only ruin Barnet but will cause social division and real resentment. Let me tell you who will benefit a) Those property developers who haven't gone bust. b) The BNP who will be able to go around peddling the notion that all of the non existent council houses are being given to immigrants. c) Mike Freer's Council officers who go on expensive planning junkets to the Cannes in the South of France at a cost of £5,000 to the taxpayer for the week.