Pressure group highlights newbuilds as way to limit recession

14/08/2009

Local authorities have been urged to help residents in the recession by building more social housing and providing more jobs.

This is the view of pressure group Compass, who issued the comments in the wake of new figures showing a rise in unemployment.

The official data showed that 2.43 million people were out of work over the three months to June - a new high for the present economic downturn.

Gavin Hayes, general secretary of Compass, said: "It is about councils across the country, prioritising what is needed most in the economic downturn and ensuring that they are running their services as efficiently as possible so that it is not the frontline that gets hit and that they can channel resources to where it is needed most."

The campaigner also pointed out that the government was currently aiming for 200,000 homes to be built per year in the UK - and that local authorities could help this target be reached.

"Councils should be looking at how they can build more social housing [and] that will also provide jobs in the construction industry which has been particularly hard hit by the economic downturn," he added.

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