In June 2000 we were reporting:
The need to disperse asylum seekers away from London and Kent is widely accepted but the delivery of the scheme by local and national government could be improved, according to a new report from the Audit Commission.
The Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 introduced a national dispersal policy for asylum seekers to ease pressure on authorities in London and Kent. The Commission found several areas of good practice, but variation overall in local agencies' abilities to provide for their needs:
The Audit Commission called for local authorities and their partner agencies, such as health authorities and housing associations, to…
The Government published a consultation paper on proposals for substantial changes to the energy conservation requirements in Part L of the Building Regulations.
The proposals will raise building energy performance standards in the Building Regulations, with the aim of cutting CO2 emissions from new houses by up to a quarter and saving householders as much as 25% on energy bills.
It is recognised that buildings produce about half of the total national CO2 emissions, and average building performance is poor by comparison with current best practice. If implemented, the proposals would yield significant improvements in the energy efficiency of new buildings and also in existing buildings when they are renovated...
An innovative £9.5 million car-free housing development by Canmore HA was opened at Slateford Green in the Georgie area of Edinburgh. The project included 120 new homes, of which over half are for rent. Areas that would normally be dedicated to car-parking have been used instead for gardens, allotments, and play areas...
The Audit Commission's Housing Inspectorate announced its initial programme of Best Value Inspections.
The Best Value Inspection Service was established by the 1999 Local Government Act to provide an independent assessment of whether Best Value is being achieved by local councils. Inspection reports judge how well a service is currently serving local people, based on a star rating from 0 to 3 (0 = poor and 3 = excellent), and how likely it is to improve in the future.
Nine councils are in the first wave of housing inspections covering a range of service areas…
The locations of selected brownfield sites could be accessed on the National Land Use Database (NLUD) website. It was developed as a partnership between DETR, Ordnance Survey, the local government Improvement and Development Agency and English Partnerships. As well as showing the sites on a map, the database gives details of previous land use and planning status.
The new service, which built on the figures previously published by NLUD, was a pilot for a readily accessible geographical inventory of brownfield sites that was being developed to facilitate the re-use of land and buildings. The pilot included sites identified by local authorities that were vacant or derelict in 1998...
Twenty-two of England's most deprived communities were given the green light to develop their bids under the Government's New Deal for Communities (NDC) programme. Twenty-one of the partnerships - made up of local community and business leaders - were given up to £200,000 each to develop plans to tackle problems such as crime, poor health, unemployment, and educational underachievement. The other partnership was given more time to develop its initial bid.
The NDC is one of the key elements in the Government's strategy to tackle social exclusion and bridge the gap between the poorest neighbourhoods and the rest of the country. This was the start of the second round - in the first phase 17 pathfinder partnerships were allocated a total in excess of £770 million over 10 years...
Energy Efficiency Minister, Lord Whitty, announced the details of the Government's £260 million new Home Energy Efficiency Scheme (HEES).
New HEES is targeted at the most vulnerable to cold related ill health in society and nearly half a million fuel poor households in England will receive help to make their homes affordably warm. This will be either through improved energy efficiency insulation, or, for the over 60s, the installation of central heating systems.
In the first two years, New HEES was expected to reach 460,000 households, of which 280,000 will be aged 60 or over…
The Northern Ireland Housing Executive launched its Strategy for Houses in Multiple Occupation. The strategy set out clear timescales for taking action to improve housing conditions and enforce standards in houses in multiple occupation. Grants were available to improve conditions and in the first year £3.13 million was set aside to bring some 150 properties up to the required standards.
One of the key components of this strategy was to introduce a voluntary licensing scheme for houses in multiple occupation. It was hoped that this will pave the way for a mandatory licensing scheme, which would prevent any new unfit properties entering the market and give the Housing Executive additional sanctions to stop unfit and dangerous properties being used...
In June 2004 we were reporting:
All commercial contracts and planning negotiations necessary to progress the regeneration of the Greenwich Peninsula were completed. This opens the way for English Partnerships and the developers of the Greenwich Peninsula - Meridian Delta, Anschutz Entertainment Group and Greenwich Council - to generate £4 billion of private sector investment for the benefit the Peninsula and the wider Thames Gateway region.
The regeneration scheme is one of the largest ever in the UK. It will provide 10,000 new dwellings, of which 3,800 will be affordable homes for key workers. The scheme is expected to create an estimated 24,000 new jobs for the regional economy…
Liverpool Council reported on progress of its unusual pilot scheme to respond to the shortage of construction workers. Offenders serving sentences of less than one year in local prisons are being trained as labourers and offered homes on their release.
Those who join the scheme received three months training before their release from prison and a further six months after. They then had the option of employment with Fusion 21, which is a local procurement partnership between Knowsley Council and seven RSLs, or applying to other developers. The tenancies offered were in either council or association homes, and were subject to the prospective tenant's agreement to renovate them on occupation…
South Ayrshire Council became the first local authority in Scotland to apply for a ban on council tenants from buying their homes. Local authorities can seek permission from the Scottish Executive to halt sales if a case can be made for pressured area status.
South Ayrshire was, at the time, the only authority to lodge a request since new legislation was introduced three years previously, aimed at protecting dwindling public housing stock in Scotland. The Council had seen 40% of its housing bought by tenants...
The Housing Corporation launched new guidelines on pay and conditions for housing association senior executives with the publication of Rewards and Risks (Regulatory Code Good Practice Note 10).
The good practice guide sets out the Corporation's views on the key issues - including basis salary scales, and performance and severance payments - that housing associations should take into account when drawing up contracts for senior staff.
While the publication recommends good practice and is not statutory guidance, the Corporation emphasised that the terms and conditions of senior staff are a major governance issue. Failure to handle such matters competently and effectively could be viewed as a sign that an association is not being properly managed and is therefore at risk of regulatory action...
The National Housing Federation published a new Code of Governance to help housing associations improve accountability and decision-making.
Competence and Accountability 2004 proposes new measures to keep housing association boards vibrant and ensure that they respond to the changing needs of their tenants and stakeholders. First published in 1995, and last updated in 2000, this latest edition of the Code placed an emphasis on board recruitment and renewal...
Sanctuary HA became the largest association in the UK not to renew its membership of the National Housing Federation. It is believed the decision to not renew was taken in 2002 on the grounds of value for money. The Association's annual affiliation fees would have been in the region of £50,000...