Council leader outlines opposition to Right to Buy scheme

The leader of Brighton and Hove City Council has outlined his administration’s opposition to the Government’s Right to Buy scheme.

The Right to Buy scheme entitles tenants to buy their council home at a reduced amount and a consultation has been taking place on proposals to increase the maximum reduction from £38,000 to £50,000.

Council leader Bill Randall, who as a journalist specialised in housing, insisted the administration is ‘fundamentally opposed’ to the scheme, which has seen nearly 6,000 homes sold in the past thirty years.

Cllr Randall added his scepticism at Government pledges to reinvest the money raised from sales back into building new council homes, for which in Brighton there is a chronic shortage.

The council has submitted a response ‘reflecting the views of its 13,000 council tenants and leaseholders’ to the Government’s consultation on the plan to ‘reinvigorate’ the scheme.

“Selling more council homes in Brighton and Hove will deepen the city’s housing crisis,” said Cllr Randall.

“Our administration is fundamentally opposed to the Right to Buy, which has seen nearly 6,000 homes in the city sold during the past 30 years, We certainly do not support the Government’s plans to boost sales by increasing the Right to Buy discount in the city from £38,000 to £50,000.”

He added: “We have made our position clear in our response to the Government consultation paper Reinvigorating the Right to Buy.

“The council will continue, however, to support the development of new-build home ownership options, including shared ownership, to meet tenant and resident aspirations to become home-owners.”

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Posted by on February 20, 2012. Filed under Brighton Property News,Council News,Latest News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
  • http://free-english-people.blogspot.com/ Paul Perrin

    Why were only current tenants and leaseholder consulted? The properties belong to the council, and the council are accountable to all residents of the city.

    Of course any tenants or leaseholders who don’t want to exercise a ‘right to buy’ can simply do so by not doing so…