£10m Council Housing Bill If Government Funding Axed

REPAIRS and maintenance of the city's council houses could cost more than £10 million over the next five years if Government funding for an improvement programme is scrapped.  Nottingham City Homes (NCH) chief executive Chris Langstaff estimates it would cost them an extra £100 per year for every house which does not get a new bathroom or kitchen fitted.  This is due to the amount of repair work which would have to be carried out on these kitchens and bathrooms, many of which are decades old.  Under the Secure, Warm, Modern programme, NCH still has to fit more than 11,000 kitchens and 10,000 bathrooms in houses across the city.  A campaign has been launched by the NCH Tenant and Leaseholder Congress, calling for the Government to continue funding the scheme.  NCH, which manages the homes for Nottingham City Council, was asked by the Government to work out how the programme could run with a 25 per cent or 40 per cent funding cut. But there are some fears it could be scrapped.  The programme was launched last year to run until 2013. By the end of this financial year, NCH will have received only £58 million, with £107 million still owed.  Mr Langstaff said it would be hard to fund the scheme without Government cash.  "The reality is that we haven't got enough money anyway, otherwise we'd be doing that."  Read more on the Nottingham Post website by clicking on the logo below.