Latest figures from the Government show
English councils are predicting an increase in capital spending on
housing from £5.9bn to £7.1bn - a rise of 21% over the provisional
outturn for last year.
Housing will this year displace highways and transport as the
largest area of council capital spending - following the lifting of
the housing revenue account borrowing cap.
Speaking to Room 151, the online news, opinion and resource
service for local authority finance officers, ARCH Chief Executive
John Bibby commented:
"I suspect there is a strong connection to the lifting of the
HRA borrowing cap. The lifting of the cap has enabled some of our
members which already had building programmes in place to expand or
increase those. In authorities which previously had very little HRA
borrowing headroom, the authorities are beginning to put new
business plans in place. It takes time to get plans implemented and
new build commissioned on site. For this reason, we expect the
spending on housing to accelerate further."
Read the full article in Room 151