Building a better future for residents

Last week you may have heard some of the media coverage of the Conservative party conference and the Prime Minister’s vow to tackle the country’s deep social problems, boost social mobility and bring in dramatic planning reforms to increase home ownership that will allow the younger generation to get on the housing ladder.

 

I was in Manchester as an attendee at the conference and as you can imagine much of what was raised resonated strongly with me particularly given the issues and challenges that we face in Wiltshire. We know that we have insufficient affordable housing and that demand is high – who wouldn’t want to live in our beautiful county? But, it is becoming totally out of reach for many; particularly our younger generation who have grown up here and want to stay. I am however so pleased that we are taking positive steps to tackle this issue and we are currently at the top of the national league table for assisting would-be homeowners with the options now available in the Help To Buy scheme.  Whether it is equity loan schemes or rental schemes via the council’s Open Market Register - through to shared ownership - a five per cent deposit is all that’s required, which means that owning a house can be a reality for many of our residents.

 

The Chancellor also stated that this autumn the Government will take measures to increase the number of affordable homes available for sale, give housing association tenants the right to buy, and encourage an increase in home building making it easier for developers to build on brownfield sites. Proper housing provision is an essential part of our nation’s fabric. We all aspire to make a home for ourselves and our family, and as a council it is a priority for us to do all we can to support housing provision and the affordability of this housing.

 

Talking of housing, last week, by coincidence, we welcomed a peer review team to Wiltshire to take a look at all of our housing services. A peer review is always a valuable opportunity to learn from others about what we can do better in the services we provide and I’m looking forward to receiving their final recommendations and actions to take forward.

Back at the party conference, George Osborne also announced that the Government is going to allow local authorities to keep the rates they collect from businesses.

This was widely covered by the media and it is good news for us. £26 billion of business rates will be kept by local councils instead going to Whitehall. Currently, the Government collects much more in business rates than it gives back to councils in grant finding. The local government grant will therefore be phased out over time. Given the reductions we have faced and continue to face in our grant funding, this is not a surprise, and in our bid for more devolution - which I talked about in my last blog - this was one of our requests for increased power.

Devolution as I previously stated is not just about money it’s about empowering local communities and encouraging greater co-working with our public sector partners so that we agree a shared vision for Wiltshire and we all work towards this pooling our resources and money.

In my view the Government knows, like we do, that if they are to deal with the financial challenges ahead, they have to do things differently and be more innovative and devolve powers where it makes sense to do so. We strive to empower our local communities and to devolve services and funding at local level. I am very much looking forward to the Government devolving more to local authorities so that we can do even more to improve the quality of life for Wiltshire’s residents and businesses.

 

Jane.