ROOF Blog

Council taxes will rise in the next financial year by 1.8%, the lowest figure since the levy was introduced nearly two decades ago. John Denham, communities secretary, claimed that the slightly below-inflation rise had been made possible by a 4% increase in central funding for councils from next month. But he acknowledged that there would be growing pressures on town hall budgets in the coming months against the wider backdrop of the UK’s large deficit. ‘Local people will rightly be intolerant of any council if they are told that care, libraries or youth services will be cut because they have not followed our radical reforms to protect the frontline services, which matter most to people,’ he said. The increase, the most modest since the tax was introduced in 1993-94, brings the bill for an average band D property to £1,439, from £1,414 this year.

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has announced that Saxon Weald and Eastbourne borough council have been successful in a bid for almost £6.2 million grant funding to develop an extra care scheme in Langney. Derry Court and the land adjacent to it, owned by East Sussex county council, will be developed together to achieve the purpose built scheme.  The development is forecast to provide 62 high-quality self-contained apartments for older people who have an assessed care need and require support with daily living.

The National Audit Office (NAO) has expressed concerns over the strength of the information collected on Decent Homes progress. It is estimated that over a million social homes have been improved by CLG’s Decent Homes Programme. The original target was that all social sector homes would be decent by 2010, but by November 2009, CLG was estimating that approximately 92 per cent of social housing would meet the standard by 2010, leaving 305,000 properties ‘non-decent’. 100 per cent decency would not be achieved until 2018-19.

Today 96 charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises will receive over £2.27 million in Government grants to improve vital facilities they provide for their communities. The grants, worth up to £30,000 each, are part of the Capital Investment Programme delivered by Capacitybuilders. They support small scale improvements to resource centres which result in improved availability, or quality and accessibility of accommodation or shared facilities for local third sector organisations.

The government risks repeating the mistakes of the postwar housing boom by wasting hundreds of millions of pounds on funding ‘grotty’ new homes, say MPs. The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), which has an annual investment budget of more than £5bn, has admitted that 27 of the private-sector projects it has bailed out scored five or less out of 20 on the industry’s Building for Life benchmark, with two scoring just 1.5. Homes failed on a range of basic measures, including poor space standards and over-reliance on single-aspect dwellings; inflexibility; low sustainability standards; and poor compatibility with neighbouring properties.

The importance of social housing’s ‘heartlanders’ and their activism has been revealed in a report that says the most prominent group of social housing tenants are highly active in their neighbourhoods and play a crucial role in bonding communities. David Eastgate, Hyde Group chief executive, said: ‘Heartlanders are the glue of local communities and in many instances play a more active role than homeowners. They take on the responsibility to deliver regeneration and ensure sustainability.’ The report makes a number of policy recommendations to unlock the potential of those living in social housing.

There is growing evidence and emerging consensus across the political spectrum that mutual ownership solutions not only work, but also should be actively encouraged by government, according to the Commission on Mutual and Co-operative Housing. Their recent report, ‘Bringing Democracy Home’, found that residents in co-operatives are more satisfied than other social housing tenants. They are happier with key services, such as repairs, and crucially tend to feel a strong community spirit, also reflected in high levels of civic engagement in roles such as school governorship.

Housing and Planning Minister John Healey has proposed a more consumer-friendly green rating for homes that will promote energy efficient properties and reduce future utility bills by up to £1500 a year in the most energy efficient homes. The Code for Sustainable Homes was ratified in April 2007 as a standard to measure improvement in the overall sustainability of new homes. Mr Healey is proposing changes in the Code to make it easier for consumers, whether they are developers or individuals simply wanting to grade and track the sustainability of their properties. Mr Healey said: ‘Our homes account for a quarter of UK carbon emissions, so it’s clear they are a vital part of our efforts to tackle climate change. The Code has proved its worth but now is the time to make it a more user-friendly standard for consumers. In the future, this will help drive uptake so people will save more money on bills and reduce the carbon footprint of new homes.’

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has shortlisted 265 bids totalling nearly £550m in round two of its Kickstart housing delivery programme.

Shortlisted bidders include a mix of RSLs along with national and local developers aiming to unlock up to 22,000 homes across the country.

Bidding opened in September with the criteria that eligible schemes should be housing-led with a minimum of 50 homes (fewer in rural areas or if the scheme delivers to Code for Sustainable Homes Level 5 or 6) and that sites should have detailed planning consent in place or the ability to achieve this by the end of March 2010.

Sir Bob Kerslake, HCA chief executive, said: ‘Kickstart continues to be a crucial component in maintaining momentum in the house building industry.’

A due diligence process will now follow, which will look in detail at value for money, design, financial viability and risk, as well as an assessment of quick delivery.