MP for North East Hertfordshire, Sir Oliver Heald, has discovered that both North Hertfordshire and East Hertfordshire would lose more than £4,000,000 per year under Labour plans to take away the New Homes Bonus and give it to Councils in the North of England. Sir Oliver recently received an answer from the Housing Minister, explaining that in 2014/15 North Hertfordshire received £2,190,429 in Bonus, and East Hertfordshire £1,982,455. Last year, these Councils received £4,172,884 in total to help build the infrastructure to support new homes. The answer that Sir Oliver received is below.
Sir Oliver has recently clashed in the House with Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Hilary Benn, over their plans to scrap the Bonus. Oliver criticised Labour plans by telling Mr Benn that, “we get the homes, but he gets the Bonus”.
Commenting, Sir Oliver said, “The millions of pounds that North and East Hertfordshire Councils have received over the last few years are vital for building the infrastructure to support new homes, but Labour wants to take that away. Ed Miliband has been to Stevenage saying that North East Hertfordshire should take thousands more new homes on top of our Council’s wishes, and his spokesman is trying to take away the cash we need for existing proposals. Labour’s plans are in chaos.”
Here is the text to the Written Parliamentary Question to the Housing Minister, explaining the figures above.
Q: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much (a) North Hertfordshire District Council and (b) East Hertfordshire District Council received in New Homes Bonus in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.
A: New Homes Bonus has been allocated to East Hertfordshire and North Hertfordshire councils in the year 2014/15 as follows:
East Hertfordshire £2,190,429
North Hertfordshire £1,982,455
The total New Homes Bonus allocated since April 2011 is as follows:
East Hertfordshire £7,628,975
North Hertfordshire £7,503,553
The Bonus ensures that local authorities who promote and welcome growth can share in its economic benefits, and build the communities in which people want to live and work. Councils are free to spend the Bonus as they choose, including on front-line services and keeping council tax low.
Fundamentally, the New Homes Bonus reverses the perverse situation under the last Labour Government, where councils were effectively penalised for building new homes; councils with a larger council tax base from house building found that the amount of formula grant they received from central Government was reduced during the equalisation process.
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