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18th April 2008 - Media release from Chester Evening Leader
Cameron election campaign visit boosts city's Tory poll candidates
CONSERVATIVES yesterday staked their claim for a clean sweep of Chester seats in next month's new council elections.
Party leader David Cameron made a fleeting stop-off in the city as part of a tour of the North of England and North Wales. His visit followed one from Shadow Chancellor George Osborne last week.
Mr Cameron, MP for Witney in West Oxfordshire, met with candidates at Chester Town Hall ahead of elections for the new Cheshire West and Chester Council to be held on May 1.
The county council and Cheshire's six district councils are being abolished in April 2009 to make way for a new authority which will be responsible for all council services in this area.
Elections on May 1 are for a shadow authority to run the affairs of the new local authority before it formerly comes into being next spring.
Tories who took control of the city council for the first time in about 20 years last May now have their sights on doing well enough to run the new authority which takes in Chester city and rural areas, Ellesmere Port and Neston and nearby villages and Vale Royal-Frodsham, Helsby, Tarporley, Northwich and Winsford and villages in between.
Mr Cameron, who has been criticised for avoiding the big cities of Liverpool and Manchester, said: "Conservatives in the North West have really done well. They control more councils that Labour. We want to build on that this year."
Mr Cameron visited the Racecourse apartments on Saddlery Way off New Crane Street which contain a mixture of affordable housing and social housing.
He spoke to representatives from the Muir Group Housing Association and residents who have benefited from the affordable housing. Muir owns 76 of the 196 flats in the development.
The Evening Leader spoke to him about affordable housing in the city after the Government announced that £44 million has been allocated to invest in affordable housing in Cheshire between 2008 and 2011.
The sum of £5.4m of this grant from the Housing Corporation has been made available for Chester.
He said: "Everybody needs affordable housing. It's difficult for young people to get on the housing ladder.
"I admire what the city of Chester is doing and that needs to be augmented by a government that's on the side of first-time buyers and that's why we have said we would effectively abolish stamp duty for nine out of 10 first-time buyers."
Talking about the government reorganisation for Cheshire West and Chester, as well as Cheshire East, Mr Cameron said: "This is going ahead so I don't see any point in raking over the past.
"The Conservatives are determined to make the new system work and make sure we provide good value for people locally and provide clean streets and services they want."
Alice Frost, 24, was a first time buyer who moved into the flats at the end of January.
She said: "It's 50-50 shared ownership with so much in rent and so m uch in mortgage.
"This can eventually staircase up to 80 per cent ownership.
"I would not have been able to afford to move out without this. It's a good scheme."
Another resident, Gary Turner, 46, explained that he lost his step on the property ladder after becoming divorced.
"I've had a mortgage for 20 years," he said. "The only way to get back on the ladder was shared ownership."
Kate Ingram, Muir marketing and research manager, said: "It's certainly an honour to have Mr Cameron here and to be cherry picking one of our schemes."
"The flats here have been a phenomenal success."
Mr Cameron, who visited West Yorkshire earlier in the day, then went to North Wales to finish the day of campaigning.
The visit was due to take place last week but was cancelled after Mr Cameron's son Ivan, who was born with cerebral palsy and epilepsy, was taken ill with a chest infection.
This original article can be found on the Chester Evening Leader website by clicking
here
