Jenrick Tells Councils To Produce 10-20 Year Plans

The communities secretary has urged every council to produce a “10 or 20 year plan" for its area and has revealed proposals for government departments to work with councils taking a more place-based approach will emerge in the upcoming levelling up white paper. Jenrick said the government wants “every local council now to produce a 10 or 20 year plan for their town, or their city, their communities, and for government to work with you in a genuinely place based way”. He said the government was “already working directly with a third of towns across the country” through recent funding initiatives such as the community renewal fund and the levelling up fund. Read more on the Local Government Chronicle website.

Jenrick tells councils to produce 10-20 year plans for their areas | Local Government Chronicle (LGC) (lgcplus.com) 

Treasury-Backed Housing Institute Established

A new Treasury-supported body to help accelerate council house building will focus on the ‘business readiness’ of local authorities when it launches in the next few weeks. Brandon Lewis, the housing minister, has held the first summit with the key players in the new Housing and Finance Institute (HFI), ahead of its official launch. The body – which was a key recommendation of January’s House/Elphicke review into council house building – was given the backing of George Osborne in the March budget. It will provide wide-ranging advice and practical assistance to local authorities and businesses through promoting new finance models and development opportunities. The body will not receive government funding and will have a membership structure for councils and businesses to access its advice. Read more on the Local Government Chronicle website.

London Exodus Surges As Welfare and Housing Pressures Take Toll

The number of families given council help to leave London rose sharply last year as welfare cuts and the housing crisis forced hundreds of households to move out of the capital. The data from 15 London boroughs points to a 76% rise in the number of families given financial assistance to leave the city between 2012-13 and 2013-14, from 119 to 210.The number of areas to which people moved also increased, reaching 80 - up from 37 in 2012-13. London residents were helped to move as far afield as Newcastle, Cornwall and Scotland. The findings came in response to Freedom of Information Act requests from LGC, which found councils had helped residents to move by paying for removal fees, rent payments and rental deposits. Read more on the LGC website.

Housing Has To Be At the Top of Local Government's Agenda

LGC reports this week on how the number of new homes begun by councils rose by 23% in 2013 on the previous year. While this increase in council housebuilding is welcome, it is still woefully inadequate. According to the Office for National Statistics, the UK has experienced the steepest population growth of any European country, with our population growing by 420,000 in the year to June 2012. In 2013, according to the CLG, just 109,000 houses were completed – way down on the 177,000 recorded in 2007. Too few houses are being built. This is leading to overcrowding and homelessness, as well as a missed opportunity to boost the fragile economic recovery.  Housing should be at the top of local government’s agenda. Failure to supply it will hold back each area’s potential and sow the seeds of social discontent. Read more on the Local Government Chronicle website.

Tory-Run Councils Will Ignore Pleas and Impose Tax Rises

Dozens of Conservative councils will defy pleas from ministers and impose council tax rises on their residents in April, research reveals.  Across England almost a third of councils are planning to increase charges, many to the maximum level allowed without triggering a local referendum, despite a demand from Conservative ministers’ that they cut or freeze bills. Many of those councils who say they can no longer balance the books without increasing charges are Tory controlled – including local authorities covering the constituencies of David Cameron, William Hague and Michael Gove. Read more on the Local Government Chronicle website.

Councils' Raids on Tenant Rent Accounts

Councils are drawing millions of pounds from their tenants’ rent account to fund support services for the government’s controversial welfare cuts and prop up their falling budgets.  The social tenant rent raid is revealed by LGC research into 13 councils’ housing revenue account business plans for 2013-14.  These show authorities across England are switching the cost of buildings and services such as libraries, community centres and street lighting from their general funds to the HRA. Almost £5m of these so-called ‘savings’ have been made by just five councils found to be carrying out such transfers. In the most significant shift, Portsmouth City Council predicts it will save £2.1m from its general fund over the next three years by shifting costs linked to libraries, youth clubs, a community centre and car parks to the HRA.  Read more on the Local Government Chronicle website.

Councils Attach Strings to Discretionary Housing Payments

Following the news that Brent Council is using its Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) budget to pay large families to move out of the borough, comes more examples of how the budget is increasingly being used for non-traditional spending.  DHP schemes have until now been largely employed to award temporary top ups to benefit recipients experiencing short-term financial difficulties. Now Milton Keynes Council and Kirklees Metropolitan Council have also attached strings to discretionary housing payments under set circumstances. Both will only award DHPs to residents with debt if they agree to seek advice on how to manage their money.  In Milton Keynes, there is an expectation that customers take reasonable steps to help themselves by working with third party agencies such as CAB to improve their financial and budgeting arrangements. Under Kirklees policy, discretionary housing payments to residents in ‘multiple debt’ situations will only be awarded ‘once the customer has attended a meeting with a debt advice professional.’  Read more on the Local Government Chronicle website.

Benefit Claimants Offered £6,500 to Move Out

Brent LBC will offer 150 benefit recipients with large families a one-off payment of £6,500 to move out of the borough, under a proposed £1m ‘new start’ scheme for those hit hard by welfare cuts.  In exchange for the payment, participants must accept they will not qualify for temporary accommodation in the borough for two years should they decide to return.  The intention is to ‘to keep their family together and make a new start in a more affordable area,’ it says.  ‘New start’ is being funded through the government’s £155m ‘discretionary housing payment’ budget.  Read more on the Local Government Chronicle website.