Conservative Prime Minister Tackles the Housing Shortage

Sir Edward Heath, Conservative Prime Minister from 1970 – 1974, specified in his will that his home (Arundells in Salisbury Cathedral Close) should be a museum as a monument to his life and work.

So few people visited this dead monument to the man who took us into Europe that on Wednesday of this week (27th Oct) it will be closing its doors to the public for the last time.

Image by Peter Ashton aka peamasher via Flickr

The beautiful house is now to be sold, so that it may revert to residential use, and the proceeds of sale will be applied to other charitable purposes for musical and other educational charities. At last it can be said that the Tories are waking up to the country’s housing crisis. An empty home returned to use, thus returning it to the land of the living, and a homeless family housed. A journey of a thousand miles starts with but a single step.

Perhaps a shame that the money couldn’t be put forward to help solve our approaching Housing Crisis, but it is good that Sir Edward Heath can be the first Conservative Prime Minister since Harold MacMillan to recognise and act on the needs of the population for housing. Perhaps David Cameron could now follow his lead?