Harlow MP Bill Rammell today slammed
Tory-controlled Harlow Council as one of only three local
authorities in England proposing to reject the Government’s offer
to reduce rent increases for council tenants this
year.
Part of a package of measures to tackle the
recession by boosting the spending power of consumers, the
Government announced unprecedented action in March that authorities
would have the opportunity to bid for subsidy, if, and only if,
they were prepared to revisit the council rents set and reduce them
by that amount. The Government announced it would halve the
national average guideline increase from 6.2% to 3.1% for 2009/10
in the context of the present unprecedented global
downturn.
Harlow Council previously met with Department
for Communities and Local Government (CLG) officials to request
that the Council be treated as a “special case” and requested
assistance in meeting the financial criteria for accessing this
subsidy, pleading a parlous financial position which the Council
claimed would make it impossible for them to accept the
Government’s offer.
Following this meeting, a response this week
from CLG to Councillors and officers from Harlow Council, copied to
Bill Rammell MP, makes clear that the Department sees no
justification to treat Harlow as a special case and even questions
why, in light of both this offer and the changes to the Housing
Revenue Account rules announced in January this year which will
benefit Harlow housing account by £900,000 which Mr Rammell
successfully lobbied for, that Harlow should not be able to reduce
the 2009-10 rent increase and help their tenants.
Mr Rammell then later discovered that Harlow
Council is one of only three local authorities across England
proposing not to take the Government up on their
offer.
Since March this year, Mr Rammell has been
pushing Harlow Council to take advantage of this offer of subsidy.
See below how you can add your support to the
petition.
Mr Rammell
said: “I am appalled that Tory-controlled Harlow Council is
refusing to help Council tenants.
The news
that Harlow is one of only three authorities across England set to
refuse the offer has cast serious doubt on the Council’s claims
that taking up this offer would cost too much. There are over 200
local authorities in England and many are seen to be in a worse
financial position than Harlow Council claims to
be.
As I have
said before, Harlow Council always seems to have money to spend on
things it wants to, such as wheelie bins, despite claiming to be in
dire financial straights. Not relieving the rent burden on council
tenants is a decision the Tories are choosing to make. I hope that
even at this late stage they will think again.”
What can you
do?
1. Support my online petition by registering your
details below
2.
Download the pettition here  and
get your neighbours, friends and family to register their support
(send back to Bil Rammell MP, Rent Reduction Petition, 4 - 6 Market
House, Market Square, Harlow, CM20 1BL)
3. Create a community campaign link to this
website - www.billrammell.com - on
your own website or on your myspace or facebook site - so that
everyone can keep in touch with the latest
news
4.
Tell me what you think in the comments section
below
| 
