I have stumbled across a local scandal where over £5million earmarked for affordable housing (there are 2,500 on my council waiting list) was instead spent on buying up homes for Afghan and Syrian migrants. I suspect this is happening at every council in the land. Please check yours.
This is how the story unfolded. A couple of months ago, I heard that in my area of Elmbridge Council in Surrey – it covers Weybridge, Esher and Cobham- they had spent £200,000 refurbishing a home for a family of six Afghans.
I contacted the council, and they responded, claiming it never happened. I wasn’t happy with that response, so I put in yet another request, this time asking what arrangements, if any, they had made to accommodate Afghan migrants in the district and what cost had there been.
I didn’t hear from their media team for a couple of weeks, so I sent another irritable email – they don’t do texts or phone calls - pointing out I had 117,000 X followers, and unless there was a response, I would tweet every day until I did hear from them.
That worked. And the news was shocking. The council, without any debate (it’s a coalition of Lib Dems and the Resident Association), had spent over £10million buying up 23 homes, with further plans for another three homes which will go exclusively to Afghan families.
Where on earth did the money come from? Well, half came from the government. That’s funded by all taxpayers. The other half came from something called the Affordable Housing Enabling Fund. That is local money and comes from property developers who, when affordable housing is not possible on their site they make a payment as an offset.
That money came to a staggering £5.68million. There are 48 councillors at Elmbridge, but only one raised a query. Can you guess which party he represented? Correct. The councillor was Harrison Allman-Varty of Reform, and he was brushed aside with both the Lib Dems and even the Tories sneering at him.
I've uncovered a £5 MILLION migrant scandal in my backyard. Tomorrow I go to bat for Reform UK - Kelvin MacKenzie
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There has never been a proper debate. The Lib Dems wanted to keep the money secret, hoping the voters never found out, as there is an election next May and they know the sensitivities around housing migrants are such that they could be thrown out.
My bet is that there will definitely be a change at the polls now. If, by chance, I can discover the spending of millions, what else is going on?
The council claims, and this is a laugh, that when the migrants leave these houses, they can be used for local people. Give me a break. If you have come from a clapped-out neighbourhood in Kabul, why would you ever leave a subsidised refurbished semi in upscale Weybridge?
For the first time, I am going to the Elmbridge council meeting tomorrow night to offer support to the lone Reform representative who took on the 47. This time, the Tories, who have changed their tune as the publicity has ramped up, will be asking difficult questions as well.
Mike Rollings, the Lib Dem leader of the council, must explain the lack of debate. Did he agree that the spending of £5.68million should be piloted through without discussion? And why did the other 47 think this was appropriate?
Does Mr Rollings believe in open government, and if he does, could he explain why he’s not practising it?
There’s a story in the Daily Telegraph that the new housing secretary (previously he was leader of the quite shocking Lambeth council) wants the 16,000 councillors across the UK to be entitled to pensions when they retire.
There has been a shocking cover-up in Elmbridge, and these 47 councillors shouldn’t be entitled to their allowance. Residents don’t want their hard-earned money going to people who don’t understand what democracy looks like.
We need more scrutiny. If I have the time, I will supply some of it.
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