Council house rent rise branded "obscene" (From Stourbridge News)

Council house rent rise branded "obscene"

5:01pm Thursday 9th February 2012 in News

OPPOSITION councillors have branded plans to put up council house rents by 7.7 per cent as “obscene” and likely to push struggling families over the edge.

Dudley Tory councillors approved the hike - which equals an average rise of £5.54 a week - at last night’s cabinet meeting.

Labour councillor Steve Waltho said the rise was the “highest increase proposed for a decade” and his colleague, councillor Tim Crumpton, described the increases which would range from £4.50 or less to £6.51 or more a week as “obscene”.

Conservative councillor Adrian Turner, Dudley’s cabinet member for housing, libraries and adult learning, said he did not think the hike was “fair”.

But he added: “If we don’t do it we will be without funds to spend on improving properties and we will have more people than houses within the local authority.

“We would like a much lower rate but our powers are determined by this government and previous government policies.”

Councillor Gaye Partridge said many families would struggle to cover the increase, which she said could be as much as £40 a month in some cases.

She added: “I’m having people come to me who really are on the edge. This is just going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

“There has to be something we as a council can do to make sure families facing crisis are not just pushed to the brink.”

Council leader, councillor Les Jones, said “many hours” had been devoted to trying to mitigate the cost but he said: “There comes a point where we simply can’t make the sums work.

“My heart goes out to these families that are going to have to pay this rent increase - it’s a great shame.”

He said the council would do “everything possible” to help those hit hard by rent rises, but he added: “Our rents are still incredibly competitive against the private sector.”

The rise comes as a new funding regime is to be introduced in April, allowing local authorities more control over the money they can spend on council homes.

The new self-financing arrangement is based on an individual council’s financial position and allows authorities to make long-term plans to manage major improvement programmes in the most efficient way.

It also aims to bring into line council rents and those of registered social landlords.