Third of councils failing to build enough homes for local people
This article creates a completely erroneous impression of the responsibility for a lack of local housing. It should say National Government is “failing to build enough homes for local people”. Local authorities, as we all know have been financially completely hollowed out. Where these failures exist is at the level of national planning. The one positive coming out of this is the fact that local people are getting sufficiently fed up with it that they’re finding their own solutions through bodies such as Community Land Trusts. This article tells us:
Almost a third of councils in England have failed a new government test of whether they are building enough new homes for local people.
New analysis reveals that Conservative councils were the worst culprits, with 35 per cent having failed ministers’ “housing delivery test” – including housing secretary’s James Brokenshire own local authority.
Many Labour councils also failed to build enough homes, with 29 per cent not meeting targets, as did 33 per cent of those under no overall control. Four of the 12 Liberal Democrat-controlled councils (33 per cent) also fell short.
The figures are the first to show how many councils have failed the government’s housing delivery test, which was introduced last year.
The results are likely to fuel concerns that cash-strapped councils are struggling to cope with growing demand for new housing.
While 219 councils met their target, 107 did not, with their combined shortfall totalling almost 64,000 homes – equating to a 30 per cent shortfall across the 107 councils.