Housing drive results in £700,000 bonus
Cheltenham borough is set to receive nearly £700,000 as a reward for encouraging house building.
The £699,135 provisional grant is part of the government's New Homes Bonus scheme, which is allocated to local councils across the country.
Cheltenham Borough Council will get the pay-out in monthly instalments over a year.
The funding is calculated on the number of new homes built in a local authority area each year, with an additional reward given for the delivery of affordable houses.
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Elsewhere in the county, Tewkesbury is set to receive £1.23million and the Cotswolds £1.37million.
George Hill, Tewkesbury Borough Council's director of resources, said the council had so far used the New Homes Bonus scheme to maintain its services and keep its council tax – currently the fifth lowest in England – "affordable" to its residents.
He said: "In the current year we have received £899,893 as a new homes bonus and £37,520 for affordable housing.
"In housing numbers this relates to 850 additional properties and 134 affordable units."
The provisional allocations for 2013 to 2014 nationally are £661.4million. This will bring the total amount of New Homes Bonus funding awarded since the grant was first paid in April 2011 to almost £1.3billion.
The bonus is being paid after 142,000 homes and 13,000 long-term empty properties were brought back into use nationally in the last recorded year.
It also includes the second affordable homes bonus, which totals £20.3million in respect of 58,000 new affordable homes in the last recorded year.
Housing Minister Mark Prisk said: "For years, developers found themselves at loggerheads with communities unconvinced that their plans for growth would benefit them, but the New Homes Bonus is turning this around."
The grant is based on the amount of extra council tax revenue raised for new build homes, conversions and long-term empty homes brought back into use.
Local authorities have until January 7 to make representations on their provisional allocations. Final allocations are due by early February.
Comments
by petersbear
Saturday, January 05 2013, 5:43PM
“Would be interesting to see how much of the Tewekesbury money is for developments on the edge of Cheltenham and Gloucester. Time for another boundary review so the council tax goes to the areas affected.”
by Ms_Superstar
Thursday, January 03 2013, 11:19PM
“In a free and fair market, all housing should be affordable.
However, we have painted ourselves into a corner on this one.
No government is going to want to preside over a housing market correction (i.e. slump), because it would cost votes, even though that is what is needed. A house is not worth millions until you don't need it any more - it's worth the same as an equivalent house.
But in order to finance a fairly ordinary home, a single person on an average income can't do it any more. People have to team up and earn at least two salaries. And that's with interest rates at rock bottom. So in order to achieve this, successive governments have introduced free or subsidised childcare so that both householders can earn even into parenthood, new home buying incentives, suspension of stamp duty and artificially low interest rates. So now there's a recession on, people are struggling to pay their inflated mortgages and the government has no room to manoeuvre.
Unless perhaps we start sending small children down the pits or up chimneys again.
So that's it, I'm afraid. Up against a dead end, in a one-way street.
Still, the £700,000 might help with the local budget shortfall. And I've heard they're going to get all their money back from Iceland (though it'll probably be paid in the form of Aunt Bessie's frozen roast potatoes).”
by clairey2010
Thursday, January 03 2013, 5:26PM
“Hum, grasping council agreeing willy nilly to any spare blade of grass covered area near you.”
by TIMONLINE2010
Thursday, January 03 2013, 12:47PM
“What consistitutes affordable housing?!”
by TIMONLINE2010
Thursday, January 03 2013, 12:46PM
“I wonder how much of this is going to councillors and execs?!”
by Shirleyjune
Thursday, January 03 2013, 9:36AM
“Tewkesbury Borough Council should be allocating a significant proportion of their new homes bonus to the communities which are suffering the extra housing rather than using it across the whole borough. Neighbouring Wychavon ring fence 40% of their allocation to community projects within the affected parishes!”