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Councils 'will get bribes to back housebuilding'
Last updated at 00:22am on 14.09.07
Gordon Brown: Desperate to build 3m homes by 2020
Town halls will be driven to raise council tax bills more sharply if they refuse to build thousands of homes on green fields, it was claimed last night.
Opponents accused the Government of blackmailing councils by dangling a £500million reward in front of those who help solve the growing housing crisis.
Gordon Brown is desperate to build three million extra homes by 2020, partly to cope with an influx of immigrants.
Housing Minister Yvette Cooper will today package the hugely controversial housing incentive scheme as a reward for councils which "raise their game".
They will share grants totalling £500million in return for pinpointing land for housing, including green fields and former garden space.
But councils which refuse to concrete over valued land, or are slow to build new homes, will be denied any of the extra cash.
The incentives are enough to ensure that councils that do not allow unpopular development will see council tax bills rising more than those which take the money.
For those councils under pressure from their voters to curb council tax rises, the lure of the extra cash for paving over areas of greenery may well be irresistible.
Tory housing spokesman Grant Shapps said: "Labour ministers are attempting to blackmail town halls into accepting unpopular developments against the wishes of local residents.
"People effectively face the threat of higher council tax if they don't bow to the Government's targets.
"We need to build more homes but we need to do it in a sustainable way and without trampling over the wishes of local people."
A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government confirmed the grants - to be introduced next year - saying they would reward councils which respond best to "local needs".
The number of homes built each year stands at around 160,000. Critics say developments on the scale planned will pile too great a burden on to water supplies, schools, hospitals and overcrowded transport.
In the past, incentives offered to town halls by Whitehall have been related only to the efficiency and speed of the planning process.
Miss Cooper is also expected to announce today that the Government has pinpointed 200 disused public sector sites across the country, which could be used for housing, to add to the 550 sites already identified by the Prime Minister.
Reader views (8)
Tell us something new.
- G, London
Perhaps Gordon should allow houses to be built on land adjacent to Chequers? Oh, and then there's the Royal Parks and perhaps Wimbledon could be redeveloped. Or perhaps a combination of seriously considering Brownfield sites and controlling immigration would stave off this constant threat to the Greenbelt.
- Mm, London
Gordon Brown is in deadly earnest about the house building programme and will use the Green Belt, particularly in the South East. Yvette Cooper has made this abundantly clear. Nor should the use of "bribes" come as a surprise. New Labour has had a clear policy of accepting a growing number of immigrants whom it helps assiduously to secure housing in the hope of encouraging permanent settlement and securing a strong "thank you" vote. Labour, both Old and New, have always harboured a desire to change the British to a more continental model of citizenship - hence the continual emphasis upon continental cafe culture. This is just part of that policy.
- James Elliott, Eastbourne UK
I can't wait for the next election just to see this despicable corrupt government shown the door. Well that's what I hope happens, but you never know.
- Stephend, London, England
Hmmm, having been involved with a protest to stop building residience on Green Belt land which was blocked twice by the local authority and then was passed on appeal by the DOE, I find it hard to believe that it's the local authorities taking the "backhanders".
- Terry Roll, London
I don't want to see another story to the effect that we need imported labour to pay for our pensions.
By the time we've done paying for all this housing, sometimes via parking tickets we could really do without, the claimed benefits (of immigration) will be at best neutral.
No need to worry though, this housing build will not occur, Gordons' statement owe more to an impending election.
- Frank H., London
For every person net that leaves the country, that's one less home to find. Let's see. Gordon, you government has let in apparently 1 million people in the past few years. Assuming say on average up to 3 share a house. That's a 3rd of a million homes that's had to be built/found. This is not including those who've left that were here in the first place. I would have rather taken the risk to the economy than having stump up more cash for a house of my own thanks.
- James, London, UK
Blackmail to achieve democracy that's a new one. Here's an alternative - don't raise the already ridiculous council tax bills and you might not get voted out.
- Stuart, London
