£4m affordable housing reward for council

WARRINGTON Borough Council is to be rewarded by the government for its work in increasing the supply of affordable homes.
The New Homes Bonus is a grant paid by central government to local councils for increasing the number of homes and their use – and Warrington expects to receive almost £4 million for the coming financial year.
Cllr David Keane, the council’s lead member for environment, said today: “Warrington has earned this grant through the excellent work done by the council’s housing team in collaboration with our partner organisations.
“Warrington has reduced the number of long-term empty homes by 300 and has delivered 227 affordable homes.
“Our provisional allocation of just under £3.9 million is the fifth highest allocation in the North West.
“Only Manchester, Salford, Liverpool and Cheshire East are higher, and most of them have much larger populations than Warrington, so it’s clear we are punching above our weight.
“Warrington’s performance has meant our New Homes Bonus for next year is almost £1.3 million more than last year’s.”
The New Homes Bonus is paid each year for six years and is based on the amount of extra Council Tax revenue raised for new-build homes, conversions and long-term empty homes brought back into use. There is also an extra payment for providing affordable homes.”
The exact provisional allocation is £3,878,344, including an increase of £1,296,817.