David Cameron's 'sink estate' plans are no more than a distraction

Quite how little attention the Government typically pays to “sink estates” can be taken in at a glance: in the worst, tower-block homes are decrepit, windows broken and what little space is available for play is unsafe to use, or lacks the right facilities.

Decades of neglect – barring the odd initiative, often quickly curtailed – have laid the conditions for such decline. So David Cameron’s announcement that the Conservative Party will pursue a strategy of regeneration, knocking down some of these benighted places entirely, initially appears to strike the right note.

Unfortunately, however, the move constitutes little more than an attempt at distraction, blocking off criticism of Tory housing policy – which will prove disastrous for the poor – with a paltry scheme aimed at generating headlines more than turning around lives. To put it in context, Mr Cameron plans to spend £140m on 100 estates across Britain.

The previous Labour government spent £181m on improving estates in the east London borough of Tower Hamlets alone. It is simply deluded to think that a little over £1m per estate, with some private finance thrown in from building more homes for sale, will shift the poverty that has so obviously taken root.

Meanwhile, the Housing Bill debated in the Commons last week will, if it passes, punish those who cannot afford to buy their own homes, by reducing the stock of available council properties. Housing on “high value” land will be sold off – putting paid to the majority of social homes in central London. All of the Conservative moves privilege first-time buyers, who, by 2020, will have to earn £70,000 a year to purchase one of the supposedly affordable “starter homes” due for construction.

A new lick of paint for 100 estates is no substitute for the massive investment in publicly owned social housing that this country needs.