Cadogan is campaigning for Social Housing for young families in Strangford Village. Local families are being priced out of the market by mostly Belfast based holiday homers. With lack of employment opportunities locally, may are emigrating.
Cadogans campaign is supported by St Joseph’s Primary School and the Strangford Community Association
“Firstly, I am not happy that some people have opposed this scheme from the point of view it involves ‘social housing’. There are over 20 local Strangford families on the housing list, and it is essential that locals are accommodated in the village at a time of unemployment, emigration with lack of availability of mortgages and borrowing capability to buy houses in the village.
“The school is at the lower level of what would be considered sustainable, and we need families and children in the village not only for this reason, but also to support local shops, clubs, church and the social fabric of the village. Weekend visitors cannot replace local families in this way.
“Secondly, I do recognise that some people in the Links and Fairways have reservations about more traffic being forced down the narrow access road to Links and Fairways. I do see this as a real problem. As a result I have proposed an alternative plan to the Housing Executive which I have put on the back of the leaflet I attach below. My proposed amendments to the plan proposed for the new Housing Association are shown in blue.
“Lastly, I do recognise that there is room for up to 6 or 8 brownfield units in the village centre in areas that are underused or derelict. However I consider this to me a matter of ‘and’ rather than ‘or’. I have asked the Housing Executive officers to come and look at these properties too.
I circulated my ideas around the village in a leaflet, and attached a diagram on the back of it for easy understanding – this was very well received by the great majority of people across the Village.