Demonising Tewkesbury mum-of-11 Heather Frost
HEATHER Frost, mother to 11 at just 36-years young – she started at 14 – is moving into a £400,000, 6-bedroom council house. The Sun says it’s a “PALACE FIT FOR A DOLE QUEEN“.
Frost is the “jobless mum on benefits” looking to move into a 1,850 sq-ft house in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire.
The Express also looks at the mum of 11, only it gives her age as 37.
She is “feckless Heather Frost, 37″.
Can mother of 11 by three different men be feckless? The Express notes:
Campaigners and MPs branded it a scandalous waste of taxpayers’ money that made a mockery of benefit reforms. Shameless Architects’ plans reveal the scale of the 1,850 sq ft property, which is beyond the dreams of most hardworking families.
Is it? What says the Royal Institute of British Architects?
Riba estimates the floor area of the average new three-bedroom home in the UK is 88 sq m (947 sq ft) – some 8 sq m (86 sq ft) short of its recommended space.
If three bedrooms at 947-ft is the norm, 6 bedrooms at 1859 sq ft is about average. So, it’s not beyond the dreams of hardworkers, some of whom may dream of much bigger things than sharing a six-bedroom home with 12 others in the provinces. (Her partner Jake is also in residence.)
The Express says the home boasts a “colossal 355 sq ft kitchen and dining area”.
The average size of the 2010 kitchen is 36.9sq m.
Frost’s kitchen / diner is 33 square metres. Is that colossal?
The Express quotes“shameless Frost
“It’s being built especially for me. If I go there and I say to them I don’t like it or it’s too small, then they will just have to build me a bigger one, won’t they?”
And then some facts:
The eco-friendly home has been designed to reduce energy and water consumption and to let in as much natural light as possible. It will have a wood-clad exterior and enclosed front and rear gardens. The council sold a plot of land to housing association Severn Vale for the knockdown price of £210,000 on condition that one of 15 affordable properties built on the site would be a six-bedroom home for Frost.
It is expected to be available in May and Frost’s current home will be re-allocated to two families.
The Sun quotes Frost, who survived cervical cancer:
“We had to go private for a while and I had seven children in a two-bed house. Then we got this three-bed house and they knocked a doorway through to the one next door. It was meant to be for four months but we’ve been here for five years now. It’s a nightmare because you can’t keep an eye on the children in the other house and there’s only one door between them, which is a fire risk. I’ve got the older children living over there while I’m with the younger ones in this house.”
What the private accommodation cost is not stated.
As for the valuation of £400,000, is that right? On the Prime Location website, 5 bedroom homes in that area go for under £300,000. Moreover, the value of Ms Frost’s current homes are not stated. Might it be better argued that she’s benefitting to the tune of the difference, whatever that might be?
Posted: 19th, February 2013 | In: Money, Reviews Comments (6) | TrackBack | Permalink
