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THE SENTINEL Monday January 7, 2013
NEWS
SEN-eO1-S2 [P]
NEWS
SEN-eO1-S2 [P]
THE SENTINEL Monday January 7, 2013
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City’s £1bn plan signals the return of the council house Counting the cost of home repairs THE city council’s housing stock survey reveals: ■ Homes in Weston Coyney have the worst energy efficiency with bills costing about £655 a year – £162 higher than the city’s council house average. ■ Burslem Park has the biggest share of homes covered by a £1.8 million budget for ‘catch-up’ repairs, with an average of £402 needed at each property; ■ Properties in Sneyd Green will need the most planned maintenance over 30 years but homes in Great Chell and Packmoor need the most spending in the next five years – an average of £5,316 for each house; ■ Surveyors found 356 health and safety hazards like structural problems; damp and mould; electrical wiring issues and danger of tenants falling over due to property design. Most affected properties are in Hanford and Trentham, Blurton West and Newstead and Weston Coyney; ■ More than £130 million will be needed over the next 30 years to replace kitchens; £65 million will be spent on boilers and £51 million on windows; ■ More than £18.6 million will be spent on painting and decorating; ■ The half-a-billion planned maintenance costs show recent investment in boilers and kitchens will keep costs below £11 million in the next three years but they will balloon to more than £90 million from the sixth year of the business plan and £120 million by year 16; ■ Flats and bungalows need between 19 and 30 per cent less work than houses. Homes with the greatest maintenance costs – an average of £32,237 – are larger terraces and detached houses built between 1945 and 1965; ■ Almost £130 million will be spent repairing empty properties left unsuitable for new tenants.
As new figures reveal the £1 billion investment needed in the city’s council houses, Alex Campbell looks at where the money will be spent – and how it will be raised NEW council houses could be built as part of private housing estates to help generate more rent. Stoke-on-Trent City Council is in talks with housing developers over ‘joint venture’ deals which would see the authority sell its own land cheaply in exchange for a proportion of new estates being set aside for council housing. The move would increase income from rent, and guarantees offered by the developer on new homes would mean only small increases to the maintenance bill in the short-term. The Sentinel reveals today how almost £1.2 billion will have to be spent repairing and maintaining homes over the next 30 years after the council took on full responsibility for its houses. It means the council is now in charge of raising its own money for housing instead of sending rent payments to the Government and receiving a grant in retur n. Income from rent on houses and garages, which has to be spent on housing and is separate from regular council spending, will rise to £68.2 million in 2013/14. But it must also use the money to pay off its £163.6 million in debt and interest on its ‘mortgage’ from the Government, and a predicted rise in rent arrears triggered by benefits cuts and ‘right to buy’ deals reducing house numbers will heap pressure on the budget. The authority said it has a solid business case for its housing stock and believes the new control over its rental income offers an unprecedented opportunity to
‘A crucial piece of work’ – how experts assessed city’s homes
How the figures stack up... Council ward Abbey Hulton and Townsend Baddeley Bentilee and Ubberley Birches Head and Central Forest Park Blurton East Blurton West and Newstead Boothen and Oakhill Bradeley and Chell Heath Broadway and Longton East Burslem Central Burslem Park Dresden and Florence Eaton Park Etruria and Hanley Fenton East Fenton West and Mount Pleasant Ford Green and Smallthorne Goldenhill and Sandyford Great Chell and Packmoor Hanford and Trentham Hanley Park and Shelton Hartshill and Basford Hollybush and Longton West Joiner's Square Lightwood North and Normacot Little Chell and Stanfield Meir Hay Meir North Meir South Moorcroft Penkhull and Stoke Sandford Hill Sneyd Green Springfields and Trent Vale Tunstall Weston Coyney Total
invest in residents’ quality of life. Councillor Janine Bridges, left, cabinet member for housing, said: “No property is a liability. What people have to recognise is that in this social and economic climate, this is a big opportunity to improve our housing stock and make Stokeon-Trent a place that people really want to live. “Now we have control we can improve our housing stock and invest in the future. “We have also got a lot of interest from joint venture companies interested in working with us to build new housing stock to create extra revenue from rents. “I can tell you now that it won’t be the same as it used to be with large councilonly housing estates. Those days are gone. The climate won’t wear it. “But it will be selected developments in sites of five acres or so where we would go into joint venture with companies like Kier and other building developers. “That would be virtually all income as they would be under guarantee
‘People shouldn’t have to live like this. More cash needs to be spent’ NOT enough is being done to bring the standard of council houses in the city up to scratch. That was the message coming from residents of Bentilee, as today’s survey was revealed. Alan Joinson, chairman of East Bentilee Residents Association , aged 65, Chelmsford Drive, said: “I think that more should be spent to bring the homes up to an acceptable state. “The amount the council is spending is nothing compared to the amount they’ve spent on other things, like the civic centre. “The fact that the council are doing this by putting up people’s rents is disgusting. Everyone is struggling at the moment with bus fares going up and the price of food going up and it’s ridiculous that the council are putting the costs onto the tenants. They should have money in the reserve.” Twenty-eight-year-old Jodie Edwards, who works in Shelton Care Residential Home, has lived on Beverley Drive for 15 years. She said: “I have had problems with getting the council to do and not require maintenance.” The council says it will also be able to unlock substantial Government and energy firm grant funding to invest in housing, including ongoing projects to
‘MORE SHOULD BE SPENT’: Chairman Alan Joinson. repairs. I have six-foot fence panels on my drive that have fallen down, and they are very dangerous but it hasn't been dealt with, as it is not classed as a high priority.” Jodie has had problems with the rear door of her property not opening, and says that when she told the council, she was informed that in the event of a fire, the family would have to refit ageing former British Industrial Steel properties with cutting edge energy efficiencies. Innovative schemes, such as the £1 houses project in
evacuate through the window. On another occasion her ceiling fell through below her bathroom. This was after she spent over two years fighting to replace her wet room with a bath for her children. Jodie said: “I had to threaten them before anything was done. I am shocked by the amount of homes that do not meet the decent homes standard.” Cobridge and Tunstall, will help lever in further funding and bring empty properties back into use. The council will target investment in properties where
short-term spending can prevent properties slipping into a condition where they would need major improvements in later years – helping to reduce the overall bill. Mrs Bridges added: “One provider would not have been able to buy our houses at the going rate and they would have gone for less than they are worth. “This was to protect tenants who tell us we provide a better service than social landlords, but also take advantage of an investment opportunity to improve the standards of housing by reinvesting rent back into our housing to improve the condition of the whole stock.” Planned maintenance including new kitchens, boilers, bathrooms and electric wiring will cost almost £548 million. Surveyor Daniel Arnold, of Meir, said: “Given the number of council houses the bill isn’t as unreasonable as it may sound, but obviously there are going to be other pressures on that budget. “Over 30 years they’d be looking at replacing every kitchen at least once and every boiler will probably be replaced twice. That’s without thinking about wiring, walls, windows and paths. It’s a big burden.” Dave Conway, right, leader of the opposition City Independents,
Total spending
Total number of properties
£44,498,399 £36,248,653 £53,168,181 £13,983,881 £15,383,486 £35,227,757 £4,679,163 £22,170,719 £4,519,487 £8,839,536 £2,826,252 £6,926,195 £4,550,493 £12,948,549 £9,288,727 £9,953,050 £18,016,435 £13,853,370 £20,684,635 £8,056,118 £1,303,694 £3,165,000 £22,454,319 £9,846,131 £666,043 £22,413,611 £4,768,690 £29,917,167 £29,799,360 £8,867,688 £10,503,766 £15,117,440 £13,905,725 £14,761,618 £11,301,232 £3,316,911 £547,931,481
1,572 1,258 1,660 563 526 1,269 175 698 168 367 121 248 160 502 334 373 666 482 704 255 77 106 755 400 23 768 154 1,075 990 311 407 538 434 482 398 122 19,141
SECURE FUTURE: Len Gibbs, from Epic Housing. who oversaw housing in his role as a scrutiny committee chairman, raised concerns about people not paying rent due to bedroom tax and council tax benefit cuts. He said: “The housing benefit is also going to go directly to tenants and that is going to create even more problems. “With the rents continuing to go up and people being asked to do more of their own repairs the value of
Average per property £28,306.87 £28,814.51 £32,029.02 £24,838.15 £29,246.17 £27,760.25 £26,738.07 £31,763.21 £26,901.71 £24,085.93 £23,357.45 £27,928.21 £28,440.58 £25,793.92 £27,810.56 £26,683.78 £27,051.70 £28,741.43 £29,381.58 £31,592.62 £16,931.09 £29,858.49 £29,740.82 £24,615.33 £28,958.39 £29,184.39 £30,965.52 £27,829.92 £30,100.36 £28,513.47 £25,807.78 £28,099.33 £32,040.84 £30,625.76 £28,395.06 £27,187.80 £28,626.06
the houses could go down, and we’re asking people to pay more for less. This is not what social housing is about.” Councillor Abi Brown, Conservative leader on the city council, said: “If you look at what neighbouring councils have done, selling housing stock to social landlords, and at the backlog of maintenance on some of our properties, you do have to wonder whether the right decision was made – not just for tenants but all of our taxpayers.” Epic Housing in Bentilee wants the council to devolve control of more houses and buildings to target investment in community benefits without hurdles caused by council red tape. Director Len Gibbs said: “We need to understand how neighbours in Stoke-on-Trent are the building blocks of the city. “We should look at this as an opportunity to work out how better collaboration with existing organisations can use investment and housing stock to build a secure future for neighbourhoods. “Housing is not just to be treated as an investment but also as part of a bigger picture in improving neighbourhoods and their schooling, employment opportunities and stabilising the population with the right mix of people.”
What do you think? Email us at letters@thesentinel.co.uk
CONSULTANTS examined 3,900 properties at a cost of almost £120,000 to work out how much money the council will have to spend. Yorkshire-based Michael Dyson Associates used a scientific formula to make sure its survey of properties provides accurate results relevant to the entire council stock. Each home was measured
against health and safety regulations, as well as the Government’s decent homes criteria. Stoke-on-Trent City Council initially refused to release the information over concerns it would trigger an increase in tenants demanding repairs but The Sentinel successfully appealed. Val Bourne, the council’s
assistant director of housing services, said: “The housing stock survey is a crucial piece of work because it provides the evidence to understand the cost of maintaining and investing in the council’s 19,000 properties over the next 30 years. “It will be used to develop planned maintenance programmes in the most cost effective way.”