Conservative Candidate for Mayor of Lewisham, Ross Archer, has welcomed today's announcement that Lewisham is set to benefit with £20 million of Central Government funding for infrastructure projects across the borough.
The announcement made this morning by the Housing and Local Government Secretary, Sajid Javid MP, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Phillip Hammond MP, confirmed investment of £866 million for projects across the country as the first part of the £5 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund that is designed to fix the broken housing market by kick-starting development and providing essential infrastructure that hampers housing projects.
Sajid Javid MP, a former Lewisham resident, said “Our priority is building the homes this country desperately needs.
This first wave of investment totalling £866 million will help get up to 200,000 homes off the ground, making a huge difference to communities across the country.
This is just one of the many ways this government is taking action to get Britain building homes again.”
Lewisham is set to benefit from two separate projects with the first being £10 million funding to develop restaurants, offices and leisure facilities and 538 homes as part of the Lewisham Gateway project in Lewisham town centre. A further £10 million has been awarded for the new realignment of the South Circular Road in Catford Town Centre which removes the existing gyratory and re-aligns the South Circular to the South. This project has the potential to deliver 5,000 new jobs in Catford and many new homes.
The funding comes at a convenient time for the Labour-dominated Lewisham Council with reports earlier this month showing the Council is to overspend for the fourth year running with estimated costs of £13 million. In contrast, neighbouring Bromley has yet again balanced its budget across all departments, while providing excellent local services prompting concerns from local residents as to exactly what Lewisham Borough Council are spending their money on.
Speaking after the announcement Ross said,
"The announcement by the Government today that £20 million has been awarded to two housing schemes in Lewisham is fantastic news. It shows that the Conservative Government is working for Lewisham and improving local roads, creating new jobs in the borough and building new affordable homes.
I hope that local Labour politicians welcome the Conservative Government’s investment in Lewisham and welcome its commitment to improving the lives of local residents in the borough.
Lewisham voters in this May’s elections have a choice between a Conservative Party delivering for residents or a locally tired Labour Party that has run out of ideas as well as money.”
ENDS
Notes to the editor:
The DCLG release can be read here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/866-million-investment-to-help-unloc…
A map of projects nationally can be found here:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?hl=en&mid=1QQS1a4ULsiXNVnCTwrrHaRf…
More information on the Lewisham Gateway project:
https://www.lewisham.gov.uk/inmyarea/regeneration/lewishamtowncentre/Pa…
Lewisham Borough Council's Public Accounts Select Committee report from November 2017 can be read: http://councilmeetings.lewisham.gov.uk/documents/g4661/Public%20reports… Contact Ross Archer – Conservative Candidate for Mayor of Lewisham.