Residents in Stockton are losing out under the Tory-led government’s new Housing policy, the New Homes Bonus, according to Stockton North MP Alex Cunningham.
The New Homes Bonus is supposed to incentivise councils to grant planning permission for new housing developments by matching council tax for new homes over a six year period.
According to the House of Commons Library, the New Homes Bonus is going to cost taxpayers at least £1.2bn a year by 2016 but deliver as few as just 14,000 extra homes a year. Before the budget, Labour called on the government to tax bankers’ bonuses and to spend £1.2bn on delivering 25,000 affordable homes.
Experts are already lining up to say that it won’t work and the Tory party’s leaders in local government have gone public with their criticisms. In addition to being expensive and ineffective, research now shows that Stockton Borough Council is getting a raw deal from this new Tory policy.
Whilst Richmondshire District Council received £6,272 for each extra home in their community, Stockton Borough Council will get just £1,313.90. And whilst the City of London has been given £28.51 a head in funding the government has given Stockton Borough Council just £3.99.
Alison Seabeck MP, Labour’s Shadow Housing Minister said:
“The New Homes Bonus is the government’s flagship housing policy but it’s expensive, ineffective and now we can see how unfair it is too. This country needs more housing and the jobs that go with it. The Tory-led government needs to stop wasting time and money on this policy and get to work delivering more homes.”
Stockton North MP Alex Cunningham said:
“I think it’s totally wrong that Stockton should be treated in this way by the Tory-led government. If the point of this policy is to reward communities for building more houses then the least they should do is make it fair. I want to hear an explanation from this Tory-government why they think that Stockton Borough Council should receive less money per new home than some of the wealthiest parts of the country.”
ENDS