Reformists warn against the ‘Monaco-isation’ of Gibraltar
The Reform Party yesterday expressed concern about the forthcoming multi-million pound Eastside development.
The party criticised the scheme as “yet another luxury enclave for the rich†and said it will be well out of financial reach of ordinary Gibraltarians. The Reformists said that the 2200 apartments planned for the development will not do anything for the Gibraltarians “who now find themselves having to live in ‘accommodation exile’ over the border.â€
They added:
The much-heralded extra 200 offsite ‘affordable’ units associated with the project do constitute a positive element but what exactly will the word “affordable†mean in the long term? In any event, the whole site should have been used for this purpose.
From The Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801
December 31st, 1969 at 7:00 pm
I am very concerned about the housing policy of the GSD government. Insufficient priority is given to social housing and to much to luxury housing for the rich.
It is often said that if Gibraltarian were offered, say 1 million pounds per head to sell Gibraltar to Spain, such an offer would be declined. Yet the government the government is effectively putting Gibraltar on the market for considerably less.
In the UK, high housing costs have led to many people being forced out of rural towns and villages, as their incomes are insufficient to buy or rent accomodation locally. The only way around this is to restrict new housing to local people.
I believe that Gibraltar must seriously look at the consequences of short sighted planning. Otherwise we might find we have sold our homeland for very little.
December 31st, 1969 at 7:00 pm
Hi there Anonymous
Thanks for popping in and posting your very interesting commment!
Whilst I generally share your concerns about ‘first time buyers’ being priced out of the market… I feel your conclusion or fear, as you put it… “we might find we have sold our homeland for very little” is jumping things to a little bit of an extreme.
As I say, though, the problem for ‘first time buyers’ is very genuine and needs to be addressed with radical policies for housing.
You are quite right to make the comparison of the UK. This has recently become exacerbated by the relentless rise in housing prices there too. According to the Halifax BS, “First-time buyers cannot afford to buy a home in 92 per cent of UK towns”! Last week, the UK Government launched a five-year strategy aimed at resolving problems faced by those seeking to get onto the property ladder. The scheme is based around building large numbers of cheap homes, and allowing people to buy an equity stake in homes rented from housing associations and local authorities, which can be enlarged or sold on later. Sound familiar?
Returning to the Eastside Project and the commitment the Government has negotiated from the Developers, will these 200 “affordable homes” be offered to buyers with some sort of similar incentive??
I tell you something else that worried me when reading the announcement. What exactly did they mean by this: “… Developer commitment will see the building of up to 200 affordable homes offsite to specifications decided by the Government for sale at cost (and free of land cost) to buyers designated by the Government.” To buyers designated by the Government?? What’s that all about?
To conclude… I believe we should all be concerned about the Housing situation and in particular, ‘first time buyers’ ability to get on the housing ‘ladder’! The Government needs to carefully focus on this problem and come up with more radical policies to help relieve this very genuine problem for the youth of Gibraltar. This seems to me to be a great opportunity for them to show the way!
Anonymous… thanks again for your post. See you again soon!
Saludos!