Council grabs empty homes

Pressure caused by high demand for council housing is forcing Bournemouth Council to take up empty homes to address the problem.

Unoccupied homes are to be taken over by the council in efforts to resolve the rising housing demand caused by the recession.

Applications for council homes have soared to over 7,000 in recent months and the council says under the "empty homes strategy" more homes can be acquired to resolve the problem.

Cabinet member for Adult Services, Cllr Barry Goldbart says it's become necessary for the council to carry out this scheme as it risks being overstretched to provide more homes in the coming years.

He says a significant number of homes remain unused owing to falls in mortgage sales, bad tenant experience or as a second home not being used by the owner.

"It's logical to encourage owners to release such homes to local authorities so they could be rented out to people," said Cllr Goldbart.

Another way for the council to get new homes is under the Compulsory Purchase Order which according to the Cllr Goldbart, allows the council to buy the house off the owner at the market value.

"We are not winning due to the enormity of people applying for council housing," he admitted.

At the moment he says the council is relying on the 'Choice Based Letting' approach which uses a points system to allocate homes when they become available.

Also tenants with small families living in bigger homes are being encouraged to swap for available two bedroom houses so that theirs could be offered to bigger families on the waiting list.

Bookies beating recession

Betting offices say they are set to gain from rising unemployment caused by the credit crunch.
Manager at Betfred in Winton Daniel Williams said: "When people are jobless or have less money they turn to gambling."

He told Bournefree News: "Our main concern is how to make the most in the competition with other bookies and not the recession.’"

Mr Williams said his team make an average of 1,100 bets a week which he says is 10% less than what a rival team working for Coral collects.

Manager at Coral bookmakers Allan Smith said the lure of betting has meant the industry is able to keep its regular customers and can thrive during difficult times. He said: "People will always find money to fund a vice."

Betfred, which operates nearly 800 betting offices across the country, is employing more staff. Mr Williams said his hours have been cut to 40 per week as Betfred cuts back on overtime.

Management at Betfred are taking on new hands to cover extra shifts at starting wages to save money.

Manager of Betfred's Charminster branch Emma Blackburn said: "I am happy to have my job at reduced hours while others get employed than to be laid off."

Increasing housing without improvement in social amenities worries Chichester locals.
Chichester residents are worried that the provision of social amenities is not adequate for the level of new housing units being built.

The population has grown over the last decade as hundreds of new houses have sprung up, but there has not been a corresponding increase in the capacity of schools and hospitals to cope with the rise.

A lifelong resident of Chichester Sue Prior cited the St. Richards hospital area as evidence of the crisis on hand.

She noted scores of houses have been built within the past four years by developers like Perssimon, Bellway and David Wilson. ‘I know people have got to have a place to live but it’s also got to have amenities to make it worthwhile,’ she said.

The main worry for residents has been ongoing suggestions by health authorities to move accident and emergency services as well as maternity services from St. Richards Hospital to Worthing Hospital.

A member of a campaign group to save the emergency and maternity units of the hospital, Sue finds it difficult to understand why such life-saving facilities must go in the wake of rising population in the area.

‘One would have thought this is the time to build cottage hospitals in neighbouring towns like Selsy, Southbourne and the Witterings to alleviate the pressure on St. Richards.’

Chichester District Council has been approving housing projects to comply with national targets which, according to residents, appear to have inadequate support from the NHS and education services.

Teen Chichester rugby team victorious

Chichester teen rugby team surge into second round of Sussex colts cup
The under 19s Colts rugby team triumphed after a decisive win over their Horsham opponents in a weekend game that ended 31-11 to the ’chi’ lads.
The two teams were competing in the first round of the Sussex Colts Cup played at the Chichester Rugby Football Club.
It was no game of minnows from the onset, as the U18s set out in a battle for dominance in the early stages of the first half.
It was the Chichester team which managed to break the deadlock after 15 minutes of play by scoring two tries in succession of five minutes and gained one conversion.
Horsham came back strong in the 25th minute and managed to score a penalty and later gained three points from a drop goal.
The score line remained 12-6 in favour of the hosts Chichester at the end of the first half as both teams put up good defence strategies preventing any scoring.
The Chichester lads approached the second half with new energy and determination extending their lead with another try within ten minutes.
Horsham put up some fight to reduce the tally, but misfortune struck the team when they lost flanker Ricky Tobin to a knee injury and couldn’t be replaced because they had no substitutes.
As a result, the visitors played with one man down 20 minutes from the final whistle, having a toll on their performance.
Horsham's Head Coach Marcella Yates adopted all the strategies in the book to contain the host team, but her team succumbed to two extra tries and two conversions by Chichester taking them up to 31 points.
Horsham surged on hard but could only manage to scrape a try taking their points up to 11 points before the end of the match.

Killer road gets facelift

West Sussex road gets new traffic lights at intersection with Rustington retail park

A long awaited lifeline has come to commuters, pedestrians and cyclists after over a decade of road traffic hazards on the A259 in West Sussex.

Fourteen collisions have been recorded within the past ten years on the road, linking coastal towns like Bognor Regis, Ford, Rustington, Angmering and Littlehampton, sandwiched between Chichester and Worthing.

Rustington Retail Park Junction, an accident prone intersection to the A259, has undergone some changes in the last four months to improve accessibility.

The project manager of West Sussex County Council Daniel Dei said the 16 week project has concentrated on making improvements to some structural defects to the road.

He said the new design involved creating a break in the central conservation and putting up signals at the retail park junction.

The New signals are to ensure smooth access to the shops, as well as ease conflict between east bound cars on the main A259 dual carriageway and those entering and exiting from the shops.

Littlehampton resident Amina Kambashi, who commutes to work in Worthing on that road, has noticed marked improvements. She said: "It feels more controlled now accessing the main road from the shops which used to be dangerous."

The project, costing over £500,000, was co-funded by the West Sussex County Council and Store Property Limited.

It has also brought great relief to mostly residents and school children in nearby Rustington and Angmering communities accessing both communities frequently.

£1 million House Competition in Sandbanks

£1 million House Competition in Sandbanks- Stephen Quao from Mammj on Vimeo.