Political Bulletin

Week commencing 22nd February 2010

Hillingdon Council first to ditch their ALMO

Hillingdon Council last week became the first local authority in the country to wind up its Arms-Length Management Organisation (ALMO).

All of its stock has reached the decent homes standard, the council fears duplication of costs and feels it can no longer justify running a separate company to manage housing when they could do it in-house.

BrewDog gets OK for controversial eco-friendly green-belt development

Controversial brewers BrewDog, makers of the 18% Tokyo Beer, and the 32% Tactical Nuclear Penguin have been granted planning permission on a green-belt site despite a recommendation to refuse from planning officers.

The decision to grant planning permission for the eco-friendly development was, unusually, taken at a full council meeting of Aberdeenshire Council. The new development should help to push BrewDog’s production capacity up from 300,000 bottles a month to 3,000,000, providing extra jobs for what is now Scotland’s largest independent brewer.

The 8 acre site outside Aberdeen will also feature a park, a beer garden, a hop field and a small raspberry plantation.

36 councils get Ł1million for advice to build 10,000 homes

Housing Minister John Healey and Rural Affairs Minister Lord Davies have named 36 rural councils that will benefit from expert support to help design and plan up to 10,000 new homes.

The Ł1m fund jointly provided by Communities and Local Government and Defra will provide expert assistance and training on masterplanning and urban design. The councils that have been successful are receiving funds ranging from Ł4,000 to Ł70,000 to support work on various projects. The full list of councils involved and their projects can be found here.

Commons Recess The Commons rose on the 10th February and will resume again on the 22nd.

Lords Recess The Lords rose on the 10th February and will resume again on the 22nd.

Mayor calls in Southall Gas Works

Plans for a major development in Southall that will deliver up to 3,750 new homes, include a new hotel, around 20,000 square metres of retail space and restaurants, bars, cafes, a cinema and sports facilities has been called in by the London Mayor, Boris Johnson. This follows decisions by the London Boroughs of Ealing and Hillingdon, whose boundary the development will cross, to refuse the developer’s planning application.

Using his new planning powers for only the second time, the Mayor has called in the plans for the Southall Gas Works Site.

Johnson said, "Failure to develop this key brownfield site could be detrimental to the future economic prosperity of west London, which is an important driver for the capital’s entire economy. I therefore believe it is right that I scrutinise this application in greater detail."

Healey responds to ‘scary as hell’ Tories

Grant Shapps this week spoke out about the low rate of development, blaming Government housing policies.

In response, housing minister John Healey said, "The Tories' latest attempt at creating a synthetic row masks the fact that they would have scythed a billion out of the housing budget in this year alone, their housing spokesman believes in little or no role for the state, and their councillors are more likely than any other Party to vote down planning consents. No wonder industry talks of Tory housing plans being 'a real concern' and 'as scary as hell'."

Tories delay planning green paper

The Conservatives have delayed the publication of their Planning Green Paper, offering no explanation.

It’s widely believed that the paper recommends local communities will be given far stronger powers to stop developments, leading it to be branded a ‘NIMBY’s charter’ by Roger Humber, strategic policy adviser to the House Builders Association and one of the UK’s foremost housing experts.

He was quoted late last year, responding to some of the policies included in the draft green paper, saying "...some of it is very off the wall. I don’t think anybody with any experience of development and local communities believes that grannies and grandpas are going to be the builders of the future. They’re the biggest NIMBYs of the lot."

Teather announces empty homes plan

Lib Dem housing spokesperson Sarah Teather has announced plans to bring empty homes back into circulation. The "Repair and Renewal Loan Scheme" would give grants to refit buildings and would be available for people who own empty properties which they are prepared to lease for five years to housing associations.

The party said the scheme would cost Ł400m over two years and would be paid for by scrapping Homebuy Direct, a scheme set up by the government to help first-time buyers on to the housing ladder. That would also allow commercial properties being used for housing, to claim commercial property rate relief – also funded by scrapping Homebuy Direct. The party believes young people– rather than families– would be prepared to live in empty commercial property for short periods of time at low rents.