Palmer affordable housing letter to Lucy Frazer 11.03.21.docx

Mr Tim Andrews, 4 The Pines, Fulbourn, Cambs, CB21 5HZ
e-mail: tim4ccc@gmail.com
11 March 2021
Mrs Lucy Frazer
House of Commons
London
SW1 0AA
Dear Mrs Frazer
Re: ​Mayor James Palmer and Affordable Housing in Cambridgeshire &
Peterborough CA
I refer with some concern to the attached letter dated 11 March 2021 from your
colleague Luke Hall MP.
As you will see, Mr Hall has concluded that Mr Palmer ‘has made insufficient
progress’ during his 4 years in office in delivering progress on his affordable housing
programme. Furthermore, Mr Hall notes that ‘the value for money being achieved’ is
below expectations. Considering the vast sums already given to Mayor Palmer with
little discernible return on that investment, this comment is understandable.
As a consequence, £45 million has been withheld that is desperately needed for the
building of affordable housing, including here in South East Cambridgeshire where
many are struggling to be able to put a roof over the heads of their families.
Mr Hall makes unspecified commitments to provide money in the future if Mayor
Palmer is able to “work on details”. However, I note that similar comments were
made the last time Mr Hall wrote to Mayor Palmer in September 2020 withholding
this money for the same reasons.
Do you agree with your colleague Mr Hall that Mayor Palmer’s record of delivery on
affordable homes in his four years in office is so poor that he cannot possibly be
trusted with government funding? Furthermore, I would be grateful if you would look
into this as a matter of some urgency as this failure to secure money for affordable
homes is hurting families in our constituency who are already suffering as a result of
the pandemic, including many key worker families.
Yours sincerely
Dr Tim Andrews
Enc. Letter from Luke Hall MP