Councils that have already signed off private finance initiative housing schemes have been favoured in the government's allocations for the £600m third round of housing PFI.
Islington and Manchester, which were among the first authorities to sign PFI deals, have both been awarded third-round schemes.

But authorities such as Leeds and Newham, in east London, which have existing schemes yet to get off the ground, have not had their bids accepted.

In all, nine councils got the go-ahead under the third round of housing PFI: Islington, Kirklees, Lambeth and Manchester will have housing revenue account PFI schemes, where the stock is kept under local authority control; Croydon, West Wiltshire, Derby, Cheshire and Kent will have non-HRA PFI, where stock is passed to a housing association.

This round is the first time county councils have been given a role in housing PFI.

The government also announced 14 more councils for the stock transfer programme, totalling 100,000 homes: Broxbourne, Ellesmere Port and Neston, Halton, Hyndburn, Kings Lynn & West Norfolk, Lambeth, Tower Hamlets (comprising 17 partial estate transfers), Macclesfield, Mid Devon, Sedgefield, Sheffield, North Somerset, Stafford and West Lancashire.

Manchester and Teesdale councils have had places held open while they do more work on their business plans.

North Norfolk and Preston – which are trying out a transfer model where tenants have more of a say, known as the "community gateway" – have also been told to refine their bids.

Source

Housing Today