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General election 2019’s housing battlegrounds: Gower

While the big topic in this election is Brexit, the housing crisis remains a top issue for voters in many areas. Inside Housing has travelled around the country to visit the marginal seats where it may influence the result. In the fourth in our series of five, Lucie Heath visits Gower

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The front row of houses on the West Cross Estate
The front row of houses on the West Cross Estate
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General election 2019’s housing battlegrounds: Gower #ukhousing #GE2019

Local people are struggling to afford housing in Gower – and that is affecting how they might vote next week, @LucieMHeath finds #ukhousing #GE2019

“I think there should be a lot more housing options for people that cannot afford to own houses,” says one Gower resident #ukhousing #GE2019

The West Cross Estate has some of the best views in Britain. Situated a 15-minute drive down the coast from Swansea city centre, those lucky enough to live on the front row of the sprawling development enjoy uninterrupted views across Swansea Bay.

Look closer at that front row of houses and you will probably be able to spot which of them were sold under the Right to Buy. Council refurbishments over the years mean only a few remain uniform.

Rachel Honey-Jones, head of community regeneration at Newydd Housing Association and a former local resident, guesses that roughly 20% of the homes remain in council control.

“It’s bang smack on the front of the seafront, so it’s absolutely stunning,” she says, adding that the homes on the estate are among some of the highest valued council properties in the country.


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West Cross sits at the entrance to Mumbles, a once run-down seaside resort which has recently experienced a growth in wealth and popularity. Now, former council houses sit among mansions that wouldn’t look out of place on the other side of the Atlantic.

Both Mumbles and West Cross are in the constituency of Gower, which caused an upset during the 2015 election when the Conservatives won the seat from Labour, which had held it since the party’s inception in 1909. But the Conservatives’ reign was short-lived: in 2017, former Welsh rugby player Tonia Antoniazzi won the seat back for Mr Corbyn’s party with a fairly slim majority of 3,269.

Joanne and Adam Protheroe, whose daughter lives in a council property in West Cross, will be voting to help Ms Antoniazzi defend her seat. Alongside the NHS, housing is a key issue for them.

“Housing is massive,” says Mr Protheroe. “People who were born in West Cross, Mumbles, whatever, can’t afford to live here any more.

“They have to move out because obviously there are people coming into Mumbles and West Cross from other areas, London and wherever, and paying way over the odds.”

Both parents agree that their daughter, who is married with four children, would not be able to remain in the area without social housing. Their other daughter was forced to move out of the constituency to Neath because of the house prices.

“I think council housing is very important,” says Ms Protheroe. “I think there should be a lot more housing options for people that cannot afford to own houses. [Our daughter] was extremely lucky to come out with what she came with.”

Gower: constituency profile

Population: 79,504

Average house price: £170,500

MP: Tonia Antoniazzi

Majority: 3,269

Figures: Office for National Statistics

Ms Honey-Jones is another Gower native who chose to move after starting a family. “It’s completely unaffordable for anyone that is on a normal income,” she says.

“A lot of individuals who live in the constituency either purchased their properties years ago and it has been handed down through family, or they have made a lot of money, moved into the constituency, bought a house, knocked it down and built their own to their own specifications.”

Ms Honey-Jones will also be supporting Labour but no longer casts her vote within Gower. As the housing market forces Labour-sympathetic voters like her out, others with different political colouring may take their places at the ballot box.

Mike Morgan-Swinhoe runs a hairdressing business in West Cross and owns several properties in the area. He hasn’t decided who to vote for but believes socialism is a “failed project”.

Gower ADD1

West Cross sits at the entrance to Mumbles, a once run-down seaside resort which has recently experienced a growth in wealth and popularity

When asked about local housing issues, Mr Morgan-Swinhoe says the problem isn’t the cost of housing, but the lack of it. So what does he think of Labour’s manifesto commitment to build 100,000 council houses a year?

“Why council housing? What’s wrong with owning your own home?” he replies.

“I don’t see why I can’t own houses and pass them on to my family… If I’m earning my money, I should be able to spend it on what I want to spend it on.”

The Right to Buy has created a generation of valuable property owners in Gower, while the lack of affordable housing has pushed many on modest incomes out. Does this demographic change mean the shift to Conservative was always inevitable? But if that is true, how do you explain the Labour gains in 2017?

Ms Honey-Jones offers one explanation: “I don’t know if people started to see the effects of austerity on their children’s generation.

“The fact that people are priced out of the housing market down here. I had to move out of the constituency because I couldn’t afford to live where I’m from. I think that could have been one of the major factors.”

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