Agenda item

Report of the Director of Economic Growth and Neighbourhood Services

Submitted – A report (previously circulated) of the Director of Economic Growth and Neighbourhood Services which had been considered by Cabinet at its meeting on 8 December 2020, to propose the revenue budget, rent levels and service charges for the Council’s Housing Revenue Account (HRA) for the financial year 2021/22 in the context of the HRA Medium Term Financial Plan to 2024/25 and the 30-year Business Plan.

It was reported that Local Authorities had the discretion to inflate rents by CPI plus 1%, which would mean an average £1.46 increase in weekly rents with an average social rent of £73.11 and affordable rent of £83.62; that 73% of tenants would have their rent and most services charges covered by benefit payments; and that the Local Authorities rent and service charges tended to be much lower than other Social Landlords operating in Darlington.

The submitted reported stated that since the Government had lifted the borrowing cap on the HRA, the Council had been using the additional capacity to invest in building new homes; and planned to borrow an extra £8million in 2021/22 to fund the new build programme; and that this could be supplemented with Homes England grant with the overall plan being to provide 100 affordable homes per annum for the next ten years. It was also reported that over 237 households had already benefitted from the Council’s current new build programme which had taken place at various locations around town and demand for these houses continued to be exceptionally high.

Reference was made to the priorities identified through the Housing Investment Plan and particular reference was made to the total investment of over £20m, with £13.385m to be spent on completing the new build programme; and that £1.000m had been set aside to support Energy Efficiency improvements and to contribute towards any match funding required as part of future potential Energy Grant bids. Members were advised of the closing balance of £9.784m for 2021/22.

Discussion ensued on the bad debt provision and the heating replacement programme; Members were assured that whilst it was a challenging time, Darlington was achieving the target of 3.4 per cent for rent arrears and compared favourably with other housing organisations; and that Darlington were part of the Northern Housing Consortium which was working to address the issues of retrofitting and that Darlington were actively seeking grant allocations.

RESOLVED – That this Scrutiny Committee supports the average weekly rent increase of 1.7 per cent for 2021/22, increases to the garage rents and services charges, the budget and Housing Business Plan, as appended to the submitted report.