An incentive for councils to complete more new homes looks almost certain to take money away from authorities in the north and redistribute it to southern counterparts, which in general are in less need of such a helping hand. The New Homes Bonus offers similar incentives across the country; and it draws its 'bonus' from the overall local government spending pot; the sort of redistribution of existing public money which became familiar with assorted 'new' initiatives under Labour. The issue is highlighted by the Northern Housing Consortium which calculates that a north-south transfer of such funds could be as high as £101 million over the next three years. Newcastle faces a net loss of over £5 million and its neighbour Gateshead £4.4 million. The latter's income from NHB in the first year is a mere £68,283 according to the government's own calculator on the New Homes Bonus website which gives an indication of the mismatch, especially when London politicians such as Labour's Jack Dromey are arguing that the bonus isn't enough to encourage the scale of new housing the capital needs. Westminster, by contrast, is getting £1,638,472. Read more on the Guardian website.
No comments:
Post a Comment