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5th September 2007
Government housing minister, Ian Wright MP, will visit Burnley on Friday 7th September to be a guest speaker at a political meeting held by Burnley Labour Party.
The minister is travelling to Burnley from his constituency of Hartlepool on the invitation of Burnley's MP, Kitty Ussher, to hear first hand how the "Elevate" housing market renewal programme is working in this constituency.
He told Burnley's MP in a conversation on Tuesday this week that he wanted to hear the views of local political colleagues on the ground and see if there were areas that he could help with.
He particularly wants to hear about why the council and Elevate are persisting in trying to scrap the current £30,000 compensation grant paid to people forced out of their houses and replace it with a loan. Earlier this year, his boss, cabinet-level housing minister Yvette Cooper on a visit to Burnley confirmed that the issue of whether to pay grants or loans was not a matter for national government but for local people.
Kitty Ussher, Labour MP for Burnley, said: "I'm delighted that the housing minister has accepted my invitation to come to our meeting on Friday. I know that the decision of the council over the summer to scrap the grants has led to great concern in some of our poorest communities and we welcome the opportunity to explain the problem to the minister responsible. I will be driving him round some of the affected areas to ensure that Burnley's voice is heard as loudly as possible in the corridors of national government."
All members of Burnley Labour party have been invited to the meeting.
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