The
“New Homes Bonus” fiddle!
Councils across the country used to get money from Central Government on the basis of needs such as how many older people they had; how many miles of road; how cold were the winters (gritting) and many more factors that determined their spending.
Councils across the country used to get money from Central Government on the basis of needs such as how many older people they had; how many miles of road; how cold were the winters (gritting) and many more factors that determined their spending.
The coalition government scrapped this system and replaced it with a system based on the whim of the government minister.
Much of the grant he just calculated himself based on his own prejudices, with a system such based, though the bias to conservative controlled southern councils was more than apparent, the powers he was given made it impossible to challenge his favouritism.
He did though allocate some money to specific criteria, such as the "New Homes Bonus". The stated intent behind this scheme was to reward councils for building new homes, something that it is hard to argue against (not that I would want to argue against it). The problem is though that it is not new money. Money was taken off every council in the land at a flat rate, to fund the scheme then was allocated back in reward for building "new homes".
Because building is happening at a faster rate, and at much higher prices in the South East, always has and always will do, they obviously get more money. This year Kirklees was allocated £1.2m, contrast this with the top three authorities, all in the South East who received around £4m more than three times the amount we received.
To add insult to injury, even though the scheme is established, announcements were made this year to cut it by 20% once more at the ministers whim, so he can fund his own pet schemes, such as the bribe to conservative councils to appease his MPs.
