Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Local Authorities v Registered Social Landlords

Hot on the heels of yesterday's Welsh Affairs Committee report on the Housing LCO, where one of the contentious issues was the issue of suspension of the Right to Buy, today's Statistics Wales report informs that Registered Social Landlords in Wales, such as Newydd in South Wales, charge tenants 7% more rent than Local Authorities, and charge higher rents in every single category of housing.

Of course, there may be good reasons for this - more newer housing or more better quality housing, both of which come about as a result of a Westminster government supported system that finances RSL's but not local authorities - hence the need for stock transfer ballots across Wales to stop councils getting themselves into a financial pickle over their need to meet housing quality standards by 2011.

On the issue of yesterday's LCO report, one of the things that left me feeling uneasy was that of the 9 members of the committee who signed it off, just three had attended both of the evidence sessions on the Housing LCO, and three (Conservatives David T.C. Davies and Mark Pritchard and Labour's Nia Griffith) had not managed to attend either session.

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