The Coalition Government is seeking to reward local authorities who take action now to increase homebuilding.
The Government inherited a catastrophic decline in home building. A combination of the recession, divisive top-down targets and a public subsidy-driven approach delivered just 118,000 completions in 2009. This was the lowest level of house building in England and Wales in peace-time since 1923-24.
This situation has led to a fundamentally new approach, the New Homes Bonus, and a consultation document has now been published.
Steve said: "The new homes bonus is a really exciting policy from the coalition government which answers so many of our critics who like to claim localism is actually about nimbyism. As I have always maintained it’s about local control and it's about Winchester choosing where its future lies and being rewarded for that if it provided new homes for local people."
In August, Housing Minister Grant Shapps MP wrote to all local authority leaders in England making a commitment to hold a consultation after the Spending Review. This consultation document includes plans to match fund the additional council tax raised when a new homes is built and a property is brought back into use, with an additional amount for affordable homes, and directly reward those who take action now to increase house building.
Mr Shapps added: “This consultation seeks views on how to implement the “New Homes Bonus” by setting out the details of the scheme and the rationale for the proposed mechanisms.
As announced in the spending review, we have set aside nearly £1 billion over the Spending Review period and funding beyond that level will come from formula grant. This includes some £200 million to fully fund the scheme in Year 1. Now we need your contributions to make sure the New Homes Bonus works and delivers the homes your communities need.”
More information...
You can look at the consultation via
www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingsupply/newhomesbonus
