356 families lost homes in Weston in 2007

12.00.00am GMT Mon 18th Feb 2008

Too many families in Weston-super-Mare are losing their homes because of difficulties over mortgage payments, claims Weston's Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate Mike Bell.

New figures show that 356 orders for home repossession were issued by Weston-super-Mare court in 2007. This is a rise of 4% since 2006 with the biggest increase of 34% occurring in the last quarter of 2007 (compared to 2006).

"356 home repossession orders means 356 families being turfed out of the house they have lived in, often for many years," said Mike Bell.

"With higher borrowing costs and huge levels of personal debt taking their toll on families, it is inevitable that we will see even more repossessions in the future.

"For far too long this Government has had a complacent attitude towards the housing market. Ministers have failed to put in place any preventative measures to stop a crash.

"It is critical that the Government works with the banks to prevent large scale repossessions, not only for the benefit of the banks and borrowers concerned, but also to help keep the wider economy stable.

"356 families in and around Weston in 2007 paid the price for growing economic incompetence by Gordon Brown. There are now serious concerns that in 2008, the situation will get worse."