THOUSANDS of housing tenants in Ellesmere Port and Neston have been told more money could soon be set aside to improve the quality of their homes following plans to boost Government funding.
The announcement comes on the heels of a visit by Labour Minister for Housing and Planning, the Rt Hon John Healey MP, who toured the area a few weeks ago to talk about the local council’s regeneration plans for public housing.
During the tour, Mr Healey discussed with Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWaC) leaders about working together to secure the regeneration of Ellesmere Port’s 5,600-plus council houses and the building of more homes in the town.
CWaC leaders had previously said they planned to have more than 400 homes built this year. They also predicted a minimum of 860 additional affordable homes across the borough over the two year period 2010/12.
Under the new Government initiative, councils across the country would get about 10 per cent more funds to spend on maintenance, as well as additional money to enable councils to build more than 10,000 homes across the country.
CWaC opposition Labour spokesman for housing Cllr Angela Claydon welcomed the news, saying the extra funding would allow the local authority to keep more money from rents collected and then spend it on improving the quality of existing housing.
She said: “All the Labour group warmly welcome this new deal. The changes announced to the Housing Revenue Account mean that the council will keep all the rents collected, and be able to spend the money on improvements to the housing stock.
“In the past, more than half of the rents, nearly £5 million a year, had to be sent to be redistributed among other councils.”
She added: “This is something we have been asking for. A few weeks ago, John Healey MP visited Ellesmere Port and met with MP Andrew Miller, local councillors and tenants’ representatives. We had detailed discussions on the Housing Revenue Account and are delighted that this announcement has now been made.”
Cllr Derek Bateman, leader of the Labour Group, said the move would mean that “all the reasons previously used for transferring housing stock from the council to other social landlords need to be re-examined”.
“There will no longer be large pots of money available on transfer, and the council will be able to build its own houses,” he said.
MP for Ellesmere Port and Neston, Mr Miller, added: “Councillors and I were delighted to have the opportunity to show the housing minister the high quality of work undertaken under the modernisation programme of the previous Ellesmere Port and Neston Council.”
Meanwhile, CWaC spokesman Shirley Wingfield said the local authority was still studying the Government’s announcement and was not sure how it would benefit the community in real terms.
“At this point in time we are still analysing the detail of the Government’s announcement.
“It is not yet clear whether the authority will benefit in real terms,” she said.
“The council has decided to outsource the management of the housing service in Ellesmere Port to a provider with a proven track record of exellence in this field simply because it is the quickest way of realising improvements for our tenants in the town.
“We are working with Government to improve the service and condition of an inherited stock which consultants have told us, requires £360,000,000 spent to bring it up to acceptable standards.”