Cuts Threaten £236m Regeneration Budget

The government has removed the ring fence from the housing market renewal budget as part of its drive for savings from local authority spending. Last week, communities secretary Eric Pickles announced councils would be expected to make £1.166 billion in savings, and that he would give them greater flexibility to do so by removing ring fences from a number of revenue and capital programmes. The £236 million housing market renewal pathfinder budget is one of the programmes to lose its ring fence, which means projects could be at risk. Read more of this story on the Inside Housing website.