GOVERNMENT'S £29M STEALTH TAX ON KIRKLEES TENANTS (Kirklees Liberal Democrats)

Kirklees Liberal Democrats <info@kirkleeslibdems.org.uk>

GOVERNMENT'S £29M STEALTH TAX ON KIRKLEES TENANTS

March 11, 2008 3:55 PM

Government plans to siphon a staggering £29 Million from Kirklees housing tenants' rent payments have been criticised by Councillor Kath Pinnock (Leader, Kirklees Lib Dems).

Government plans to siphon a staggering £29 Million from Kirklees housing tenants' rent payments have been criticised by Councillor Kath Pinnock (Leader, Kirklees Lib Dems). Latest housing budget figures published by Kirklees Council show that the government is demanding £29,393,000 in subsidy payments over the next three years.

Council tenants pay rent to Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing. Once all rent payments are collected the government, under the national 'Housing Revenue Account' scheme, takes a subsidy from around 80% of councils and then gives this cash out to other parts of the country. With roughly 21,500 council tenancies active the government is taking £1,270 from each Kirklees tenant's rent payments over the next three years.

Cllr Kath Pinnock (Lib Dem Group Leader) said: "The fact that Kirklees residents are forced to pay such a huge subsidy is outrageous. This amounts to a stealth tax on local tenants, and is simply not fair. The government is asking each tenant to hand over £1,270 over the next three years - equal to £8 per week. The government must accept that we need money to invest in providing homes for people here in Kirklees.

"The Labour government inherited a dodgy national housing system, but after ten years has done nothing to make it fairer. It is time that local rents were used to provide better and increased numbers of houses for residents.

"There is a growing view across the country that housing rents should be kept locally, to allow councils to invest in homes. I am taking a motion to the next Council meeting to try to build support on this issue. I think local tenants would like their money to be invested in their homes or used to build more houses to help those on the housing waiting list - at the end of last year there were more than 7,500 people waiting for a house locally."

Cllr Pinnock has submitted a motion for debate at the next meeting of Kirklees Council (19th March) which will call on the government to allow this money to be retained locally for investment in housing in the Kirklees area.