Affordable housing key topic for Surrey candidates

BBC Radio Surrey has heard from the five candidates standing in Dorking and Horley and asked them about some of the issues which matter to voters.

The seat, which has been created because of boundary changes, includes a large part of the previous Mole Valley constituency, including Dorking, Great Bookham and Fetcham.

The former Mole Valley MP, Sir Paul Beresford, announced he was stepping down in 2023.

Taking part in the Your Voice Your Vote debate were Craig Young from Reform UK, Lisa Scott from the Green Party, Marisa Heath from the Conservatives, Chris Coghlan from the Liberal Democrats and Nadia Burrells from Labour.

The issues of getting GP appointments, climate change and housing were all discussed by the candidates

Conservative Marissa Heath said there is shortage of homes which people can genuinely afford to buy and the party is introducing a new help to buy scheme.

“I think there’s lots of initiatives we can be looking at. For example, councils own land where they could truly put affordable homes and social housing,” she said.

Labour’s Nadia Burrells said average property prices in the Mole Valley district are 13 times more than the average salary.

“We’re going to change the planning system so we can actually build the houses that we want instead of getting stuck in the endless rigmarole of planning problems,” she said.

Craig Young from Reform UK says there was very little new housing being built and the party would fast track land which has already been built on for development.

“We would give tax incentives to local builders to build on brownfield sites and we would prioritise local people who have paid into the system,” he said.

Liberal Democrat Chris Coghlan said the party is calling for 150,000 social homes per year across the country.

“There’s a housing shortage, not just in Surrey across the UK,” he said.

“The government promised to build 300,000 new homes a year, but its fallen well short of that target.”

Lisa Green from the Green Party says they would look at building homes in urban areas.

“We need to be building the houses in logical places in town centres where people want to live, take on the European model where we’re going up a couple of storeys, rather than sprawling across our green belt,” she said.

A full list of candidates standing in the election can be found on the BBC’s website.