Subscribe for free e-mail updates

Affordable housing failures of B&NES Council highlighted by new charity report

The 'shamefully poor' record of Bath and North East Somerset Council in delivering much-needed affordable housing in the area is highlighted this week by housing charity Shelter in its Housing League Table.

It has prompted North East Somerset's MP Dan Norris to renew his calls for Conservative councillors who currently run B&NES to scrap their commitment to extremely well-paid bosses whose continuing failure to deliver is further confirmed by the new figures.

The Housing League Table, published this week, compares how councils across the country are performing at enabling new affordable homes. It highlights how the level of affordable homes being delivered compares to the number needed and uses this measure to produce a ranking for each council.

B&NES ranks amongst the south west's worst councils, being outperformed by all its neighbouring unitary authorities.

The league tables follow the 2008 publication of The Audit Commission'sCorporate Assessment Report on B&NES. The Commission said the Council was "falling well short" in delivering already modest housing targets.

"Shelter confirms Conservative-run B&NES has delivered a shamefully poor 13 per cent of the affordable housing needed by local people," said Dan. "B&NES languishes as one of our country's poorest-performing councils - and the worst in this part of the world.

"People are asking why a Council that was so roundly condemned in autumn 2008 by the Audit Commission watchdog for its housing failures continues to fail to meet local people's housing need. This failure is undermining rural North East Somerset - forcing local youngsters to move away and damaging the survival prospects of rural shops, post offices and schools.

"Older people suffer too as there are insufficient affordable homes for key workers. Without these vital staff pensioners lose out on the support that allows them to keep living in their own home for as long as possible."

"The people I meet at my twice-weekly surgeries right across North East Somerset are wondering: What has B&NES Council been doing since the autumn of 2008?

"They have certainly spent hundreds of thousands of pounds of council taxpayer's money on the salaries of a Strategic Director of Development & Major Projects and a Chief Executive. A fundamental part of the jobs of these two highly-paid people must be to deliver affordable housing. They are failing badly.

"Any reasonable council would have responded to the Audit Commission by taking urgent action to give hope to the thousands of local people in need of an affordable place to live.

"Shelter's figures show the council has delivered only a seventh of the affordable housing needed

"This pitifully poor council acts too often like it's doing local people a favour, having forgotten it should serve the communities that pay its wages.

"Based on the type of response we usually get from B&NES local people might expect them to now hike up these bosses' salaries still further, in the forlorn hope they will then sort things out.

"The Tories who run B&NES will be asking their £340,000 press office operation to find a way of interpreting this charity's data to show the council in a good light. Better to spend this money on delivering the homes so needed in North East Somerset, than on finding a new set of excuses for failure."

The Shelter Housing League Table shows B&NES has managed to deliver just 13 per cent of local housing need. Neighbouring authorities figure better (South Gloucestershire 20 per cent; North Somerset 23 per cent, and Bristol 39 per cent). More information, including the full League Table can be found here

Back to News contents list