GENERAL ELECTION: Labour candidate speaks of frustration at 'warriors on social media' as she defends student flats

The Labour candidate for Lancaster has defended the building of student flat blocks saying they are a "good thing" for the city.

Cat Smith said she gets "very frustrated" at the attitude of some "warriors on social media" towards purpose-built student apartments.

Ms Smith, who was MP for Lancaster & Fleetwood from 2015 to 2024 and will be standing in the new Lancaster & Wyre seat on July 4, was speaking during a debate about housing on Beyond Radio.

Four of the five candidates for the Lancaster & Wyre constituency were taking questions sent in by listeners during the debate ahead of the election on July 4.

The debate was broadcast on Beyond Radio on Friday.

LISTEN: Lancaster & Wyre 'Beyond the Ballot' debate - Beyond Radio

Ms Smith said: "One of the things I really like seeing is the purpose-built student housing blocks that go up because that frees up smaller houses on residential streets in Lancaster for people to move in with young families and you don't end up with a situation where certain streets in Lancaster in the summer holidays are basically like ghost towns.

"More purpose-built student accommodation is a good thing for Lancaster and I get very frustrated when I see certain warriors on social media saying 'Oh I bet it's another student block' and I'm thinking 'I hope so because that would be brilliant because that would free up some of the houses to have permanent communities'."

Beyond Radio's Facebook page, and other local social media pages, are regularly full of comments criticising the widespread building of student accommodation in Lancaster.

Pictured below is a CGI image of how a new student flats development, currently being built on Bulk Road in Lancaster, might look.

Peter Cartridge, Conservative Party candidate (pictured below), said: "I've seen it on social media where a lot of the time it's criticised.

"As Cat says, you go into some areas of Lancaster in summer and in some areas it's a ghost town. We really need to address that as it is a problem in small communities."

The candidates were discussing a range of housing issues and also gave their views on how to improve the situation in general.

Jack Lenox from the Green Party (pictured below) said: "The core of the issue that we have right now is that we have a developer free for all across most of the UK and this is caused by councils not really having the ability to make decisions that they know are the best decisions for where they are.

"We have a national rulebook written by the government and that decides what we're allowed to do and not allowed to do. We're trying to shepherd the big money developers to build the kind of housing we need. Typically it isn't the kind of housing they want to build.

"Doing something like regeneration of a brownfield site, like we are managing to in the Canal Quarter, is a much more complicated ask. Developers simply don't want to take those projects on. We need to get rid of Right to Buy. It means that we've lost loads of our social and council housing. Effectively it means that if a council was to build council housing, it has to sell it for less than it cost to build it, within five years. 

"On Mainway, we had very ambitious plans to build there, with Levelling Up money. But a decision was taken that because some of the land we wanted to build on is too much of a flood risk,the money from the government can't come forward for those houses we want to build. However private developers are still allowed to build housing (there). Councils have one tied behind their back, or sometimes both hands. We would love to see a fairer greener homes guarantee."

Matt Severn of the Liberal Democrats (pictured below) said: "We won't tackle the housing crisis without building more homes. We need to build more on brownfield sites. Lancaster City Council are building homes in Skerton, the Canal Quarter redevelopment. But we also need to build more on the green as well because not everyone wants to live in the middle of a town. We built suburbs in the 90s, we built surbubs in the 70s so why can't we build suburbs in the 2020s?

"What we should not do is be terrified of houses being built but at the same time we have to enforce standards properly, and make it so the housing needs are suitable for local areas. We do need to crack down on rogue landlords. We'd make it so you'd have to be a licensed landlord to let out a property. 

"You can't succeed in life if you don't have a place that's warm, dry, safe, somewhere with a lock on the door that you can call your own. The building of housing is good for everyone. We want to work with communities to create the housing solutions they need."

Cat Smith said: "We have a lot of people who are private renting but we also have families who are living in hotels. That is unsustainable and we need to build houses as a country. Labour would have a brownfield-first approach to building houses. There is also the issue of quality of the private rented sector. Quite often it's so poor.

"We have to make sure councils are given the powers they need. Our housing needs in Lancaster & Wyre are going to be very different to those in the south east of England. We would want local authorities to give first-time buyers the chance to buy homes."

Peter Cartridge said: "I represent a semi-rural ward in Wyre. In those places there has been a lot of housing development and it really has damaged the character of some of those villages. Also there are areas around Lancaster that have had a lot of building going on. The Conservative Party has always been the party of home ownership.

"I think Right to Buy has given many people the opportunity to own a home. I think the rental market is ignored a lot of the time, the focus does tend to be on housing built for the private sector. We have to accept that private landlords do provide a lot of housing in this country. There are hundreds of houses that have been given planning permission in town centres, that haven't been built. People say, brownfield sites, it's finance, it runs out. But I think if you keep building on green fields you're not going to get that constant urban renewal.

"We have to tackle the skill shortages in our actual building trade. I'm very proud that the Conservative Party has pushed apprenticeships to close that skills gap."

In their manifestos, Labour have promised to build 1.5m new homes over five years and the Conservatives have promised to build 1.6m homes over the next Parliament.

The Lib Dems have pledged to deliver 380,000 homes per year, including 150,000 for social rent, and give councils power to end the Right to Buy, which allows most council tenants to buy their council home at a discount.

The Greens also plan to scrap Right to Buy and deliver 150,000 social homes per year.

Reform UK propose to review the planning system, encourage smaller landlords into the rental markets, and restore landlords’ rights to deduct finance costs and mortgage interest from tax on rental income. 

Read more: GENERAL ELECTION: Lib Dem's moving words for his family during debate on social care - Beyond Radio

GENERAL ELECTION: Lancaster & Wyre candidates explain why they should be next MP - Beyond Radio

*We invited all the Lancaster & Wyre candidates to take part in our debate in person, or alternatively provide a mission statement.

A spokesperson for Reform UK said that their Lancaster & Wyre candidate Nigel Alderson would not be attending the debate.