Tory West Midlands Mayor Andy Street posts new homes boast - with photo from Hertfordshire
Tory mayor Andy Street was ridiculed for bragging about increasing social housebuilding across the West Midlands but being unable to find a photo to show new homes in the area
The Tory West Midlands Mayor has boasted about building new homes in an advert showing houses in Hertfordshire.
Andy Street was ridiculed for bragging about increasing social housebuilding across the West Midlands but being unable to find a photo to show new homes in the area. The top Tory is hoping to secure a third term as Mayor when voters head to the polls on May 2.
In an appeal to voters, Mr Street posted an ad on X which pledged to triple housebuilding targets. "I’ll TRIPLE the number of the social homes being built in the West Midlands if re-elected this May," he wrote. "We’ve set the bar nationally for house building - but as a region we haven’t built enough social housing. I’ll ramp up social housebuilding to 1,700 homes a year "
ICYMI ???????? I’ll TRIPLE the number of the social homes being built in the West Midlands if re-elected this May ????
— Andy Street (@andy4wm) March 27, 2024
We’ve set the bar nationally for house building - but as a region we haven’t built enough social housing ????????
I’ll ramp up social housebuilding to 1,700 homes a year ???? pic.twitter.com/7MsiVu0BRY
But it was soon pointed out that the photo used to go with his promo is a stock image from Alamy - not a photo of actual houses that have been built in the West Midlands. The image can be found on the photo company’s website with the caption: "New build homes in the new Stortford Fields housing estate development. Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire. England."
A Labour campaign source said: “Just like the Conservative government, Andy Street has failed to build the affordable homes needed across the West Midlands. Instead of parading results in his region, he’s stuck boasting about homes built in Hertfordshire.
"Street has run out of road. Voters have the chance to elect a Labour mayor on 2 May, to deliver the fresh start that the West Midlands desperately needs.”
Mr Street’s promo photo is also from a housing estate that is unfinished. The initial outline planning permissions were granted in 2015 for Stortford Fields but the housebuilding programme is still not complete nine years later.
Andy Street has pledged to triple social housebuilding in the West Midlands
The promo photo is from an unfinished housing estate in Hertfordshire
According to East Hertfordshire council, delivery of the homes is underway and the programme is not expected to be finished until another nine years, in 2033. Work was due to begin on a further 124 new homes on the estate in December 2023, with only 36 of the homes expected to be available for affordable rent through a housing association, the Bishop Stortford Independent reported.
The number of new social housing homes being built in the West Midlands currently is between 500 and 700 a year and Mr Street hopes to increase the number to 1,700 by 2028.
Mr Street hit headlines earlier this week after he came under fire for plans to merge the roles of West Midlands mayor and police and crime commissioner (PCC). Existing Labour West Midlands PCC Simon Foster, who was elected to the role in May 2021, has previously said the move amounts to a “hostile takeover” and suggested he could challenge the move in the courts.
Meanwhile, Labour council leaders from across the West Midlands released a letter of "no confidence" in Mr Street on Wednesday evening, slamming the "tone and substance" of his mayoral campaign. Mr Street accused the council chiefs of "gutter politics" in response.
A spokesman for Andy Street said: “This was a stock photograph, used to illustrate future plans, rather than to highlight Andy’s considerable success in driving up housebuilding in the region. His record speaks for itself - under Andy, the West Midlands is on course to hit its target of building 215,000 new homes by 2031, the only region in the UK to be on track. This includes beating the target of 15,250 new homes every year in the three years 2021-2024.
“Andy is now determined to build on this success by also delivering a revolution in Social Housing in the West Midlands, pledging to use a £400million Affordable Housing war chest to triple the amount of homes for social rent built here.”
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