October, 2009

New Build / Social Housing — Comments Off
29
Oct 09

£500m left for Government’s Kickstart Programme

£500m approximately will be available in the second round of the Government’s Kickstart Regeneration Scheme after first round bidders are turned down due to not meeting value for money or quality standards, or could not meet the timescales.

The Homes and Communities Agency shortlisted 270 schemes for the £925 million fund in July. This was part of the Kickstart project to drive house building by injecting funds into regeneration schemes that have been stalled by the economic downturn.

All the money was earmarked for the projects that were originally shortlisted.

But Housing Minister John Healey has announced the final 115 schemes will be funded through the first round of Kickstart, which will receive £389 million between them to deliver just fewer than 9,000 homes. This brings the total allocation for round one to £449m, to fund 11,762 homes.

Educational Building — Comments Off
29
Oct 09

Pfs warns election may delay schools projects

The General Election is likely to cause a delay to school projects as the new government reorders priorities.
Partnerships for Schools (PfS) has warned that there may be a “slight delay” to schools projects for up to five months after the next election while the new government establishes priorities.
However, the public body set up to deliver Building Schools for the Future (BSF) also expects commitment to spending on both the academies and primary capital programme from a new government.

The General Election is likely to cause a delay to school projects as the new government reorders priorities.

Partnerships for Schools (PfS) has warned that there may be a “slight delay” to schools projects for up to five months after the next election while the new government establishes priorities.

However, the public body set up to deliver Building Schools for the Future (BSF) also expects commitment to spending on both the academies and primary capital programme from a new government.

Social Housing — Comments Off
21
Oct 09

ALMOs take legal action over Government’s Decent Homes raid

Arm’s-length management organisations (ALMOs) have applied for a judicial review of the Government’s decision to defer £150m for refurbishments until 2011 / 2012.

Councils whose ALMOs were in the sixth round of funding bids have announced they are seeking legal action, arguing that withdrawing funding at such short notice and with almost immediate effect ‘significantly damages their ability to plan and deliver services which affect tens of thousands of tenants across the country.’

Social Housing — Comments Off
2
Oct 09

England short of a million homes

England will be short of a million homes by the end of 2010, according to a new report, suggesting the financial crisis is creating a housing crisis.

The Town and Country Planning Association report, Mind the Gap, has found the gap between supply and demand would be 150,000 in 2009.

Housing completions may be as low as 100,000 in 2008 / 2009 with the rate of growth in the housing sector unlikely to rise above 10% a year for the next few years.