70 years after British Prime Minister Clement Attlee visited Dartford to open the Temple Hill estate, his grandson has followed in his footsteps to mark the construction of the first new council homes to be built in Dartford for nearly thirty years. Earl Attlee, who bears an uncanny resemblance to his illustrious grandfather, visited Temple Hill on Monday to unveil 25 new houses and flats that are now occupied by families from Dartford.
The development marks a commitment to the delivery of new council homes by Dartford Council and Lord Attlee joined the Mayor and Council on a tour to meet several residents who have settled in to their new homes.
Council Leader Jeremy Kite said “It was always in our mind to invite Lord Attlee to open these great new homes and I was delighted when he accepted our invitation to visit Dartford, just as his grandfather had done 70 years ago on the day that Temple Hill opened. Lord Attlee was hugely impressed with the new homes we have delivered and particularly the way in which we had kept faith with the standards and space afforded to each home. It’s never easy to decide to build things but there’s a real sense that social housing is desperately needed and I want Dartford Council to be at the forefront of meeting the needs of everyone in our Borough, not just those who can afford to pay for private housing. There’s a lot of growth in Dartford and the council can’t always intervene to control the pace of it but one of the things we can do is to commit to those local people who deserve good housing every bit as much as buyers on private developments. I am proud that we are the first council in more than forty years to bring deliver new council homes in Dartford. Our policies mean that they are allocated not to people from other towns, other regions or even farther afield. They have been provided to great families with strong Dartford connections.”
Temple Hill Estate was opened by Lord Attlee’s grandfather with a speech including the words “We want people to have places they will love; places in which they will be happy and where they will form a community and have a social life and a civic life…Here in Dartford you are setting an example of how this should be done”.
“New developments aren’t always popular with everyone but seventy years on Dartford is keen to continue to prove we are still doing so.” said Jeremy Kite.