Cambridge council accused of 'greed' for home sales overseas

A council has been accused of being "greedy" by marketing homes it part-funded oversees.

About 500 homes are being built at the Timberworks and Ironworks in Cambridge by a partnership between the city council and a property developer.

The properties have since been marketed in Hong Kong, which opposition Lib Dems said "defied logic" as there was "a housing crisis in Cambridge".

But the council said the buyers wanted to live and work in the city.

Across the two sites about 240 of the properties are council homes with the rest for private sale.

The Cambridge Investment Partnership, which was formed by the city council and the Hill Group, said the homes had been sold on a "locally first" basis.

Those sales "came to a standstill" due to Covid-19 "uncertainty" and there was interest overseas, in particular with British National Overseas (BNO) passport holders in Hong Kong, the partnership said.

Two events were held in Hong Kong and there had been no further marketing overseas since Autumn 2021, it added.

But Tim Bick, leader of Lib Dems on Cambridge City Council, said he "found it absolutely incredible [as] we've got a housing crisis in Cambridge".

He said people outside the UK buying properties to live and work in Cambridge was not a problem but some of the material in the Hong Kong events appeared "marketed to property investors".

The councillor said it was done in "quite an offensive way for those of us who know homes are so scarce for those who want to live here".

"The city council got into this with good intentions, to help meet housing need, but has got subverted and has got greedy in the process," he said.

Wendy Blythe, from the Federation of Cambridge Residents' Associations, said she "felt really shocked and I think a lot of residents were shocked" when the homes were marketed overseas.

She said Cambridge was "a city with a crisis of affordable housing" and the prices should have been reduced so people in Cambridge could afford them.

She said the overseas buyers would "make prices go higher" and not benefit local residents.

Mike Davey, deputy leader of the Labour-led city council and member of the Cambridge Investment Partnership board, said Cambridge was "an international city".

He said there was "due diligence" over anyone buying from outside the UK, such as limiting buyers to one property per person.

"They weren't property investors. They actually were genuinely interested," he said of the interest from Hong Kong.

The Labour councillor admitted some of the language in the marketing material appeared to be aimed at investors and the council had "learnt a lesson" about using agencies to sell the properties.

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