American-style trailer parks could help solve Wigan’s council house waiting list crisis, local politician says

Coun Bob Brierley offered the idea up at the latest Wigan town hall meeting.

He said it would reduce costs associated with accommodating people waiting for council houses, suggesting bosses buy trailers – popular in many US communities – to put people up.

Money spent on hotels is wasted cash, Coun Brierley said. It came after a scrutiny committee reviewed the borough’s latest housing register statistics, which showed there are 14,176 current applicants. That represents an increase of 686 since the last quarter.

The figure exaggerates the true number of people looking for a new home as many can be on the register for years. “Active” applicants bid each week. There are 6,111 of those at present.

Coun Brierley said: “I believe in this housing strategy, we house people in hotels temporarily. Why aren’t we looking into creating American-style trailer parks as temporary accommodation?

“It is £40,000 for a trailer – then the money is coming back to us and not a hotel. If they look after them, it will educate them to look after our council houses.

“It really wants looking into. Is there any chance we can look at this as a solution which will be cost effective after 18 months?”

The Independent councillor has floated the idea to the council before. Housing officers present in the council chamber told Coun Brierley they are trying to speed up the process of people being in temporary accommodation and making the system as cost effective as possible.

Although the council is building more affordable housing, its stock is dwindling due to the Right to Buy scheme, which allows most council house tenants to buy their local-authority owned property at a discount.

The committee heard 216 homes were lost by the town hall to Right to Buy last year.