Portsmouth housing boss claims sale of 8 homes will pay for 12 new council flats

As reported, Labour housing activist Councillor Cal Corkery claimed the Lib Dem administration at Portsmouth City Council had 'failed in its responsibility' by auctioning off eight council homes this year.

He wrote to the council's cabinet member for housing, Cllr Darren Sanders, calling on a report detailing all recent sales of council properties to be heard in public.

But now Cllr Sanders has hit back, defending the sales.

'All of these empty properties had building defects,' he said.

'I understand that some - although they met the building standards that existed when they were bought - do not meet current standards we use for social housing letting.

'That means that the amount of money we would need to spend to make them match the higher standards expected of social housing would not be viable.

'If the evidence shows it will cost more and take longer to make a property safe than disposal then officers pursue disposal.

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‘Given that we want more homes that Portsmouth people can afford, we have two further thresholds. The first is whether there is an alternative use, for example with adult social care. If there isn't, then it is only as a last resort that market disposal happens.

'In this case, disposing of eight properties means we can buy potentially 12 properties.'

He added: 'In terms of public discussion, that has already happened. It was raised in my last decision making meeting by Cllr Scott Payter-Harris, not you.

'Income from these disposals was also included in the current year's budget council discussed and approved in public in February.'

But Cllr Corkery said: 'I now understand that several of these properties were empty for a number of years prior to being auctioned off so more questions arise about why they were left empty for so long.

'I have repeated the request for a report to be brought to a public meeting on this issue so that opposition councillors and local residents can properly scrutinise the policy of selling off council homes to property developers.'

The council currently owns 14,635 residential properties.

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