Dudley to retain its stock – and Mansfield set to do same

Dudley council, which manages 24,500 units, has followed the example of other large councils such as Bristol, Greenwich, Leicester and Kingston-upon-Hull. These authorities all opted to retain their housing after a majority of tenants expressed support for staying with the council.

Dudley made the decision after a consultation that lasted more than a year. More than 4500 tenants were asked their views.

The council estimates that it will cost £270m to bring its homes up to the 2010 target. A Dudley spokesman said the money would come from the existing housing budget. “We don’t need to reallocate money from existing projects, because our non-decent homes rate is quite low compared with other councils. Only 27% of the stock needs to be improved,” he said.

The cabinet of Mansfield council is also set to recommend that the local authority retain its 7350 homes to meet the decent homes standard.

A total of 1777 questionnaires were returned by tenants – 92% of them backed retention.

Mansfield has set its own housing standard that is tougher than the ODPM target. Its improvement works will be undertaken by Bullock Construction, which has signed a contract estimated at £38m.

The final decision will be made on 17 May at the council’s annual general meeting.