Complaints over Housing Policy

A batch of more than 700 letters from landlords and residents have been delivered to Nottingham City Council against a controversial housing policy.

The authority is looking at increasing the number of areas where landlords will have to apply for a licence for a house to be turned into a House of Multiple Occupation (HMO). The authority is looking at introducing an additional licensing scheme in several areas in the city, including parts of Radford, Lenton, The Park, Arboretum, Wollaton Park, Mapperley, The Meadows, Hyson Green and Sneinton. David Liversidge, portfolio holder for Commissioning and Voluntary Sector at the city council, said: "We will listen to any constructive feedback from this consultation, but this position is ill-informed and appears designed to protect the interests of landlords at the expense of leaving tenants without the protection from rogue landlords they need. "We completely refute any accusation that our scheme is discriminatory. We remain committed to working with good landlords and improving the standards of rented accommodation in the city."  Read more on the Nottingham Post website.

Idea to Sell-Off Council Houses In Nottingham 'A Complete Non-Starter'

The idea that councils should sell expensive social housing to fund the building of cheaper homes has been described as a "complete non-starter" by Nottingham City Council's lead housing councillor.  Councillor Dave Liversidge, portfolio holder for housing, adults and the community sector, said that the theory, which was published by a think tank called Policy Exchange yesterday, would not work in Nottingham. The report, called Ending Expensive Social Tenants, claims that selling the most expensive council houses could raise £4.5 billion a year, allowing 170,000 affordable homes to be built.  However, Mr Liversidge said there are not a significant number of council houses in Nottingham that are worth much more than the average house price.  And it would mean getting rid of good quality family housing, which the city needs.  He said: "I don't believe there'll be more than half a dozen houses that could be sold at a better than average price.”  Read more on the Nottingham Post website.

Nottingham City Council Signs 10-Year Deal With ALMO

Nottingham City Council has signed a new ten-year contract with its arm’s-length management organisation. The ALMO’s work has led to a rise in customer satisfaction to 80 per cent, cut rent arrears by half, and signed up 4,700 tenants to its involvement movement. Dave Liversidge, portfolio holder for housing and the voluntary sector at the council, said: ‘We are looking forward to continuing our successful partnership with Nottingham City Homes and seeing services develop and improve even more through the next decade. ‘Our new agreement recognises Nottingham City Homes’ success since it took over city council housing and our confidence in their plans for the future.’ Janet Storar, tenant chair of the Nottingham City Homes Board, said: ‘This agreement confirms to me the confidence Nottingham City Council has in our ability to deliver quality services and work in partnership with them to create homes and places where people want to live.’ Read more on the NCH website.

Government Slashes £1.7bn of PFI Funding

The government has withdrawn more than £1.7 billion of housing private finance initiative credits. The decision, announced today, follows a review of the CLG’s spending priorities. Schemes in procurement or under contract will continue to be funded, but pipeline projects in initial design stages will not be. This means all 11 schemes in round six of the housing PFI, which were provisionally allocated £1.7 billion of credits, will have their funding withdrawn. In Nottingham, the Government has said it will not fund the £200 million project to redevelop The Meadows. Nottingham City Council has already spent over £700,000 to develop the proposals, which included hundreds of better homes and improvements to street layouts. Councillor David Liversidge, portfolio holder for Housing Delivery, said: "This is a devastating blow for the Meadows neighbourhood and our citizens who live and work there. Our plans were to transform the area by building new properties and refurbish existing council housing, creating better access to the neighbourhood, investing in better community centres and building new shops. A significant amount of consultation has been carried out with the local community to ensure that the people who live in the Meadows got what they wanted. These changes would have improved their quality of life." He added the scheme would have created hundreds of jobs for local people, particularly in the construction industry. The council has claimed it would have generated £6m for the local economy so the overall impact is massive.Read more on the Nottingham Post website.