North East council unveils long-term plans for £1.1bn spend on housing
A 19,000-home council has set out long-term plans to invest £1.1bn on housing, which includes spending £265m on energy efficiency measures and building 400 new homes.
Gateshead Council, which dissolved its ALMO last year, said it will invest in insulation measures and new heating technologies as it aims towards being a net zero carbon borough by 2030.
In its Housing Revenue Account (HRA) business plan the council said it expects the average spend per property to be £16,000, but some refits could cost £37,000.
Councils and housing associations are facing huge investment challenges as they aim to decarbonise homes to meet the government’s net zero targets.
Gateshead Council said its HRA business plan allowed it to cover some of the cost of measures but added that “support from public funding will be required to meet our obligations”.
It estimates it will need to secure about £40m in extra funding to meet its obligations around energy and net zero.
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Elsewhere in its business plan, the authority said it expects to spend about £33.7m on “estates and environmental improvements”.
A total of £7m is earmarked for building safety and security up until 2030, the council said.
“As a building owner of higher-risk residential buildings, such as high-rise buildings, we will compile and maintain safety case files and have appointed a building safety manager to support the management of our assets,” the business plan said.
The proposals also include demolishing four high-rise blocks and decommissioning another block.
The council is also aiming to build 400 new homes over the next 10 years.
Despite this, the council has predicted an overall decline in the number of homes it has by the end of the 30-year period.
“Taking into account predicted sales of properties through Right to Buy, the potential impact of stock options and predicted development opportunities housing stock is predicted to be 15,942 by year 30 of the plan,” its business plan said.
The document said that the council’s borrowing will need to “rise significantly above the current levels” in order to incorporate all of the cost pressures and anticipated capital investment, including new social housing stock.
The plan requires “minimum” savings of £3.35m. The capital investment for the 30-year plan is £1.14bn, according to the document.
John Adams, cabinet member for housing at Gateshead Council, said: “I’m fully behind these housing investment plans. As a council, we have a duty to listen to our residents and act on what they tell us are their priorities.”
In 2020 Gateshead Council became one of the latest local authorities to dissolve its ALMO – The Gateshead Housing Company – as part of what it said was a bid to “deliver a new vision for all the council’s housing functions”.
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