Given the track record of this council, this Mayor’s record on planning, and his personal opposition to overdevelopment (or rather lack of opposition and lack of planning), it will come as no surprise that the former north Watford bus garage is the focus of yet another development.

The current quoted number of properties is 230. This will likely change and residents of Meriden, Woodside and Stanborough will certainly expect this to rise.

A total of 65 per cent of the houses the council will approve when this comes to the development control committee will be unaffordable for residents of Watford and unaffordable to those wanting to move here.

This means a measly 35 per cent will be considered ‘affordable’, despite the fact that many people do not share this sentiment.

65 per cent of those 230 houses will be bought up by developers and the already well off. These will then be let out to those who can just about get by as a means for that landlord to subsidise their lifestyle.

The amount of social housing that will be built on this site is even worse. Currently the council has a policy that one in 10 ‘affordable’ houses have to be dedicated to social housing. This means that only eight of those 230 properties will fit the criteria to be social housing. That’s three per cent.

This is simply unacceptable. At a time when wages are stagnant, the standard of living is in decline, and over 5,000 visits have been made to Watford Food banks this year, eight social houses are honestly not good enough. To then have 65 per cent at unaffordable full market rates is outrageous.

A former bus garage, a facility ran for the benefit of the many and not the few, Will now solely serve the opposite.

Our mayor and council should feel ashamed. Peter Taylor is proud to have “chosen” to live here in Watford; well that makes him one of the lucky few who can afford the unaffordable.

Seamus Williams

Labour Council Candidate

Cassiobridge Road, Watford