'New towns' need millions to meet decent homes standard

Britain's "new towns" need millions of pounds of investment or stock transfer if they are to meet the decent homes standard by 2010, councils have warned.

Some have called on the government to set up a special fund to help them.

Thousands of homes in the new towns, which were built in the 1950s and include Harlow in Essex and Peterborough in Cambridgeshire, are likely to fail the standard. Because they were all built at the same time, they have all reached the end of their shelf life simultaneously.

The first stage of the standard must be met by 2004 but few new towns have the money required to bring homes up to scratch. Many of the areas plan to transfer their stock or set up arm's-length management bodies to raise the money needed for repairs.

Alan Townshend, head of housing at Harlow council, said the council needed an extra £10m to meet the standard and was about to consult tenants on transferring stock to a housing association in order to raise the money.

He said: "There should be more government money for new towns, whether through English Partnerships or through external funding. There should have been a commitment to put some additional funding to address problems as the towns were built at the same time and have similar infrastructure issues."

Townshend said he feared Harlow, which – like many other new town authorities – is debt-free, would lose out when capital receipts are pooled. He feared the money would be directed to inner-city areas.

Peterborough council said 9500 of its homes would fail to meet the 2010 target. It needs £80m to bring them up to standard but has only half of that sum. In 2004, the council plans to ballot tenants on stock transfer, which would net the council £6m a year.

Peterborough's head of housing management, Mick Leggett, said rent restructuring would also cost the authority £500,000 a year. If the council did not transfer its stock or make "drastic service cuts" its Housing Revenue Account would be in deficit within two to three years, he said.

An English Partnerships spokeswoman said it was working to improve housing in new towns Telford and Basildon and would be happy to discuss housing issues on a case-by-case basis.