Letter: George Osborne off target with his statement
George Osborne didn't mention the word "rural" once in his speech, it's not there in the printed Autumn Statement either.
This is an Autumn Statement that's centred on cities and ignores the needs of rural England and counties like Shropshire.
We are in desperate need of affordable housing in Britain. But affordable housing will get just £4.7 billion from Osborne up to 2021. That's less than a third of the £15.1 billion budget he has allocated for roads. Most of the affordable housing money is set to go to big schemes in cities.
This would not be such a big problem if Eric Pickles hadn't last week removed the requirement of housing schemes of 10 or less houses to provide a financial contribution towards affordable housing. Most housing schemes in rural South Shropshire are very small. We are heading towards a situation where building of affordable houses in the south of the county is rapidly grinding to a halt.
The Autumn Statement wasn't the least bit green either. Osborne did not mention the environment at all. Instead, he is promoting fracking and cutting taxes on fossil fuels. As we head towards 2014 being one of the warmest years on record, George Osborne seems to not care about the impact climate change will have on future generations.
For George Osborne, the environment and affordable housing are right down at the bottom of his priorities.
They are at the top of our priorities for most of us here in rural Shropshire. Osborne has got his priorities wrong.
Charlotte Barnes, Bishop's Castle
