Disappointing for the anti-transfer brigade though it must be, it can be no real surprise that the draft bill only proposes to give top performers more financial muscle.The spectre of debt-ridden metropolitian councils sinking deeper into the red – even if they could find someone to lend them money – was, rightly, never really on this chancellor's cards. One only has to read about Hull to know why the government wants to keep councils on a leash (see page 16).
But there is a ray of hope now shining into town halls like Birmingham and Newcastle. It appears that housing's new boss, deputy prime minister John Prescott, has a few tricks up his sleeve for councils with no chance of becoming teacher's pet or getting a yes vote for full stock transfer. The talk is now of a kind of third way, with Prescott pressing the Treasury to fund partial transfers. Sweeteners could include dowries for worthless estates and council debt write-offs. Both ideas are just what the sector ordered. Reducing the qualification for ALMO funding from three stars to two is similarly pragmatic, although on the face of it this seems to contradict the ground rules in the draft Local Government Bill.
It appears that John Prescott has one or two tricks up his sleeve for councils with no hope of becoming teacher’s pet
Of course tenants still have to be persuaded to vote yes to transfer. But at this stage, it's more important for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to prise the £600m needed to ease transfer from the chancellor's purse. At the Chartered Institute of Housing conference in Harrogate last week, permanent secretary Mavis McDonald, probably one of the most influential people in the sector, made much of having a major player like Prescott standing up for housing in the cabinet.
Let's hope she's right.
Source
Housing Today
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