Council rents to go up by less than 1%
Harlow Council has set its housing budget,
which will see rents increase by less than 1% from 5 April 2010
taking the average weekly charge for tenants from £72.93 to
£73.56.
The Council’s housing budget for 2010/11 was
agreed last night (11 February 2010) at its Full Council
meeting.
As well as the low average rent increase of
just 0.86% service charges for tenants and leaseholders will also
remain around the same level as 2009/10. Further good news is that
communal heating charges to tenants and leaseholders will decrease
on average from £13.48 to £9.18. This follows the Council’s success
in reducing costs from its energy supplier.
Councillor Lee Dangerfield, Chairman of the
Council’s Housing Committee, said: “This housing budget is all good
news for tenants and leaseholders and will help to support them
during these difficult financial times. Communal heating charges
will reduce for both tenants and leaseholders and rents on average
will only increase by less than 1%, which is below the rate of
inflation.
At the same meeting the Council also decided
to reject the Government’s rent offer to reduce the rent increase
for 2009/10.
Councillor Dangerfield, said: “As the
Government did not come up with an alternative we have decided to
reject its rent offer in the interests of protecting services for
tenants. As we have always said if we accept the Government’s offer
this would mean a substantial loss of income not only in 2009/10
but future years too. We estimate that over four years this
could be nearly £1.5m and represents an amount we cannot afford to
lose without severely cutting the housing repairs and other vital
services we provide for tenants.”
The Council’s housing capital programmes for
2010/11 was also agreed last night.
Councillor Simon Carter, Chairman of the
Policy & Resources Committee, said: “The economic downturn has
had an effect on the amount of money available in the non-housing
capital programme. The £13m capital programme will be used to
maintain decent homes and we will commit over £3m to improving
energy efficiency in our homes, which will help reduce energy bills
for tenants.”