ROOF Blog

Councils will be allowed to keep their rents and the proceeds from the sale of homes under an overhaul of local authority financing that reverses reforms from the Thatcher era. Along with borrowing freedoms that were recently introduced, this could lead to up to 10,000 extra council houses being built every year and mean 10 per cent more money a year for maintaining and managing Britain’s 1.8m remaining council homes, which are occupied by 4m people, the government said yesterday. Housing minister John Healey said the move amounted to a ‘once in a generation chance of change’ that should be welcomed by councils. Under the plans, the ‘housing revenue account’ system will be dismantled in 177 local authority areas. This would end the current system, whereby income from council housing goes into a central pot, not all of which is returned to local authorities.

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.

98% of local authorities in England are failing to deliver enough affordable homes to meet need, a new website launched by Shelter has found. Shelter’s Housing League Table, launched today, found that only 8 of 323 councils in England are providing enough or more affordable homes than are needed, meaning a 98 per cent local authority failure rate. Local authorities are responsible for identifying the housing need in their area and for ensuring enough affordable homes are provided to meet this need. However, Shelter league tables also show that in the last year a total of 90 per cent of councils (292) provided fewer than half the homes they say are needed.

Councils are considering plans to reduce their spending including by cutting up to 170,000 public sector jobs in anticipation of a dramatic downturn in their budgets. Dame Margaret Eaton, chair of the Local Government Association, said that local authorities were being hit by a ‘perfect storm’ in the recession with increased pressure on their services and a squeeze on their budgets. Privately, councils are looking at how to slash their budgets by 15% over the next three years, using projections on the cuts necessary to reduce the £178m public deficit drawn-up by the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies.

The average cost of Band D council tax bills in England for 2010/11 is set to increase by the lowest percentage since the tax was introduced in 1993. The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) and local authorities predict rises of below 2%. A CIPFA survey suggests the average bill will be about £1,438.72.  CIPFA head of policy Ian Carruthers said although politicians had listened to calls to ‘avoid large increases’, financial pressures meant councils might still have to cut certain services.

The Conservative party has finally published its long awaited planning green paper which includes proposing the scrapping of centrally-set housing targets and replacing them with a system of financial incentives for local councils to build. As expected, the green paper also includes introducing a presumption in favour of sustainable development at the base of the system, whilst giving neighbours the right to force the council to review a planning application. However the Tories said they will limit the right of residents or developers to appeal planning decisions once the decision has been taken, and will replace the planned introduction of the Community Infrastructure Levy with a ‘tariff’.

At least 5,500 properties owned by London’s authorities are unoccupied, more than 3,000 of which have been vacant for three months or more. This is despite 353,000 people across the city waiting to be housed. The figures, released under the Freedom of Information Act, created fury among campaigners. Duncan Shrubsole, of homelessness charity Crisis, said: ‘It’s scandalous to have so many properties empty and we would urge all local authorities to make sure they are using their council housing to maximum capacity.’ Councils today defended their position saying many of the houses were uninhabitable. Lambeth Living, which manages social housing for Lambeth council, has 1,090 properties empty, 848 for more than three months, and 18,000 households on its housing waiting list — 8,000 of those families of two or more. A spokeswoman said empty properties were usually awaiting repair, redecoration or re-letting.

Windsor and Maidenhead council will announce today a four per cent cut in the charge from April. This will bring the average council tax for a band D property to £996 2010/11, down by £41 from 2009/10. The Local Government Association said that Windsor and Maidenhead’s tax cut was the biggest ever. Most councils are set to increase the charge by between 2.5 per cent and 3 per cent from April. The RPI measure of inflation is currently 2.4 per cent. The local authority has cut more than £1million off the local authority’s budget between 2009/10 and 2010/11 - and handed the saving directly onto council tax payers. Windsor and Maidenhead councillors said they were hoping that the radical overhaul of its finances could form a blueprint for other councils across the UK to cut council tax. David Burbage, the council’s leader, said: ‘We are showing that council tax can go down as well as up. For too long council tax bills have inexorably risen, and there is no correlation between high council tax and good services.’

An elderly couple were allowed to die in their freezing home after neighbours’ pleas to authorities for help were ignored, it has been claimed. Jean and Derek Randall were found dead in their home in Northampton by police as Britain was gripped by the coldest winter in 30 years. Sally Keeble, the pensioners’ MP, has now called for an inquiry claiming ‘major failures’ led to the couple being neglected by care workers. Mr Randall, 76, had been trying to get his wife, 79, into a care home after realising that his own flagging health left him incapable of caring for her. Neighbours claimed they repeatedly contacted the county council, NHS staff and charities for over a month about the couple’s plight, but their warnings were allegedly never acted on. Northamptonshire County Council said it was investigating.

Plans for a national register of social housing tower blocks in England are being outlined by the Tenant Services Authority (TSA). The social housing regulator’s national register will hold details on ownership, the number of properties and the age of the tower block. It will also list the date of the last fire risk assessment and the date of the next assessment. The TSA will begin collecting data from housing associations in February 2010. Phil Morgan, Executive Director, Tenant Services said, ‘The register will be a valuable tool, allowing us to build up a comprehensive picture of tower blocks in England. It will allow us to work with landlords to ensure that they are fully complying with their responsibilities to carry out risk assessments and taking appropriate action so that tenants are properly protected from the risk of fire.’