Archive for September, 2009


Camden Labour welcomes nation-topping affordable homes boost

Friday, September 11th, 2009
Camden is set to be the most significant beneficiary of the government’s new affordable home building programme.
Housing Minister John Healey Thursday confirmed yet another boost for affordable housing with news of a nearly £250 million investment to provide 3400 affordable homes and creating around 5,000 jobs.
In all, 43 Housing Associations across 97 council areas and within every region of the country will benefit from the funding boost.  Camden is set to receive the highest amount, £42 million for 284 homes.
All the new homes announced this week will be affordable, with more than four in every five built for low cost rent, and the rest for first time buyers.

Labour Group leader Cllr. Nasim Ali welcomed the £42 million investment – the largest sum in the country:

“Every councillor knows that housing is the number one concern local people have at our surgeries.  Locally Labour’s never stopped lobbying for more affordable housing, so £42 million for 300 new homes is fantastic news. It’s the largest settlement in the country and this will help families in overcrowded housing as well as first time buyers. This stands in stark contrast to the Lib Dem-led council and their policy of auctioning off council flats on the open market.”

The regional breakdown of today’s Housing Association funding allocation, with new homes by rent and low cost home ownership (LCHO) identified separately is:


FOR RENT

LCHO

TOTAL

GRANT

(£m)

HOMES

GRANT (£m)

HOMES

GRANT (£m)

HOMES
East Midlands

5.832

121

0.543

30

6.375

151
Eastern

2.327

51

7.867

209

10.194

260
London

127.093

975

9.082

255

136.175

1,230
North East

0.383

12

0.218

8

0.601

20
North West

5.373

90

0.923

26

6.296

116
South East

32.902

448

7.920

261

40.822

709
South West

30.551

468

5.940

110

36.491

578
West Midlands

4.770

122

2.007

73

6.777

195
Yorkshire and Humberside

0.855

73

1.332

81

2.187

154
Total

210.086

2,360

35.832

1,053

245.918

3,413

ii) The breakdown of the Housing Association funding allocation by council area and number of new homes is:

AREA

GRANT (£m)

HOMES
Adur

2,400

48
Allerdale

0.371

5
Arun

0.523

10
Basingstoke and Deane

11.701

178
Bedford

5.980

153
Birmingham

0.247

4
Blackburn

0.243

4
Bournemouth

0.550

10
Breckland

0.116

1
Bristol

0.000

16
Bromley

4.364

31
Calderdale

0.000

15
Camden

42.665

284
Charnwood

0.500

8
Chelmsford

0.176

4
Cherwell

7.022

113
Chichester

0.731

10
Copeland

0.000

8
Cornwall

1.823

27
Crawley

0.520

8
Croydon

0.058

64
Darlington

0.000

5
Dartford

0.089

1
Derbyshire Dales

1.523

30
Doncaster

0.000

2
Dudley

0.127

2
East Hampshire

0.840

14
East Lindsey

0.420

16
East Riding

0.057

1
Eden

0.600

10
Enfield

0.222

5
Guildford

0.200

8
Hackney

2.146

24
Harrogate

0.250

5
Havering

35.818

357
Herefordshire

0.000

18
Hinckley and Bosworth

0.249

14
Kettering

1.716

22
Kings Lynn and West Norfolk

0.804

14
Kingston upon Hull

0.035

1
Kirklees

0.000

14
Leeds

0.605

11
Leicester

0.020

1
Lewisham

0.000

31
Mid Devon

0.516

23
Mid Sussex

2.105

41
Newcastle upon Tyne

0.175

3
Newham

7.690

63
North East Derbyshire

0.140

4
North Kesteven

0.257

9
North Lincolnshire

0.000

7
North Norfolk

0.064

4
North Warwickshire

0.780

12
North WestLeicestershire

0.634

11
Norwich

0.126

2
Oldham

0.051

1
Plymouth

1.318

22
Portsmouth

0.780

12
Redbridge

4.988

30
Reigate and Banstead

0.255

4
Richmond upon Thames

4.520

52
Rossendale

0.700

10
Rotherham

0.000

10
Salford

0.840

12
Sandwell

0.073

1
Sevenoaks

0.640

13
Sheffield

0.000

30
Shropshire Council

3.339

82
Solihull

0.052

1
South Gloucestershire

2.800

56
South Norfolk

0.068

1
South Staffordshire

0.095

1
Southampton

0.570

10
Southwark

4.408

36
Stafford

0.068

1
Stevenage

0.540

9
Stockport

0.369

6
Stockton-on-Tees

0.208

4
Stratford upon Avon

0.079

1
Tandridge

1.571

25
Taunton Deane

5.078

74
Teignbridge

0.835

15
Test Valley

4.239

52
Tower Hamlets

28.787

245
Wakefield

0.056

8
Walsall

0.052

1
Waltham Forest

0.021

1
Wandsworth

0.490

7
Waveney

0.076

1
Wealden

3.437

63
Welwyn Hatfield

0.130

2
West Lindsey

0.648

19
Wirral

0.920

14
Wolverhampton

0.049

1
Worcester City

0.735

15
Worthing

0.479

7
Wychavon

0.000

3
Total

212.556

2,744

Posted in Housing |


Camden Belsize Park council flats ‘flipped’ by developers

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

Camden council flats in desirable Belsize Park NW3, bought at auction by private developers earlier this year, have been ‘flipped’, for a potentially massive profit – Camden Labour can reveal.

Sold as part of Tory-Lib Dem Camden’s council house sales programme, a three flat home on the Russell Nurseries Estates in Aspern Grove only left council control at the start of last month, when it was snapped up at auction for £560,000.

Now just one of the flats is being marketed for buyers at the sum of £250,000 – a price the estate agent described on their website as “unbelievable” – allowing the buyer to make a substantial profit almost overnight.

This is despite the fact that there are 18,000 people on Camden’s waiting lists.

Posted in Housing |