HOUSING charity Shelter has named Warrington as one of the best councils in the country for delivering enough affordable homes to meeting local need.
Shelter’s housing “league table” analyses the performance of 323 councils in England in providing affordable housing and ranks Warrington Borough Council as fourth.
Local authorities are responsible for identifying the housing need in their area and for ensuring enough affordable homes are provided to meet this need. Warrington is required to provide 171 affordable homes a year – and last year delivered 270.
It was one of only eight councils in England to deliver more than its annual requirement of affordable homes.
Shelter’s chief executive Campbell Robb said: “We know that the recession has created a difficult climate for house building, but the work of Warrington Council clearly shows that by working creatively with their partners local authorities can deliver affordable homes.
“However, with more than 7,600 households on the waiting list in Warrington it is vital that the council continues to keep building these desperately needed homes.”
The findings are part of Shelter’s Housing League Table, a new one-stop-shop website that provides local housing data including house prices, housing waiting lists and levels of housing delivery. The website also ranks councils according to their current levels of affordable housing delivery against their analysis of housing need. These rankings can be found at: www.shelter.org.uk/housingleaguetabledata
Shelter hopes the website will provide councillors and the public with information about the need for affordable housing, with the league tables updated annually to enable the public to hold the council to account.
Mr Robb added: “We hope members of the public will use this information to get in touch with their council and make their views on the need to deliver more affordable homes known.
“Councils must also be supported by significant government cash so they can deliver desperately needed affordable homes. That’s why in the current financial climate, and with council budgets set to be slashed, it is vital that all political parties make affordable housing a long-term top priority.”
HOUSING charity Shelter has named Warrington as one of the best
councils in the country for delivering enough affordable homes to
meeting local need.
Council one of the best says charity
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About Author
Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
