Emma Reynolds, Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton North East and Labour’s shadow housing minister, returned to her roots on Friday 21 March to officially open a new development on the Walsall street where she grew up. Walsall Housing Group invited the Wolverhampton North East MP to an event marking residents moving into new homes at Spout Lane, Caldmore. Ms Reynolds lived in Spout Lane for the early part of her childhood, and returned to visit her old council flat and meet the current tenants.

Emma also met residents in the eight new family homes built by Walsall Housing Group. The new development consists of six two-bed houses and two three-bed houses for social rent.

The completion of the scheme is part of the leading housing provider’s development programme which has seen 194 properties built across the borough over the last year. It was supported by a Homes and Communities Agency grant of £3.5 million and a Walsall Council New Homes Bonus grant of £100k.

Ms Reynolds also visited nearby Caldmore Community Garden which is maintained by a volunteer resident group in partnership with whg. The same group organises the Caldmore Village Festival which attracts thousands of people every year and recently received a grant of £5,000 from whg’s Local Neighbourhood Fund.

Emma said: “Visiting my old council flat in Spout Lane in Walsall was a real trip down memory lane. It was a poignant reminder of my early childhood when my Mom and I lived there together. Just the two of us. I have many happy memories of those years including leaving home for my first day at school, admittedly a little upset!

“In 1981, the Council threw my Mom a lifeline when they offered her and me the Council flat. We lived there very happily for a number of years until my Mom re-married and we moved to Wolverhampton.

“My childhood memories of our Council flat have very much shaped my views about housing and the vital role of Council houses and social housing more broadly. I was shocked in 2010 when the first thing that this Tory-led government did was cut the affordable homes programme by 60 per cent. As Shadow Housing Minister, I have made clear that housing investment will be a priority for the next Labour government.

“I am glad to see that the flats have been maintained and are in a good condition. I also had the chance to visit some new homes that Walsall Housing Group have recently built just over the road. This new development is very impressive. The new 2 and 3 bedroom homes have been built to a high standard and I had chance to meet some of the happy tenants.”

Gary Fulford, Walsall Housing Group’s chief executive, said: “We were delighted to welcome Ms Reynolds to show her the investment we have made in Spout Lane, which is just one element of our wider commitment to provide affordable homes across Walsall.

“We are committed to investing £90 million to deliver a further 900 properties in the next three years, and will be submitting a bid shortly to hopefully secure the Government funding needed to kick-start this work later this year.

“Our commitment is about much more than building homes, it is about building communities so it was also great to be able to showcase the work we do with fantastic organisations like the Caldmore Village Festival Group to invest in what is an extremely diverse and multicultural community.”

March 2014