LOCAL AUTHORITY SOCIAL HOUSING GRANT

Motion Text

That this House opposes the abolition of local authority social housing grant from April 2003 as announced by the Deputy Prime Minister in his Sustainable Communities Plan; believes that by springing this surprise cutback on local authorities just two months before the new financial year, the Government has thrown many well-advanced social housing programmes into chaos and may seriously undermine the early provision of desperately needed affordable homes; and calls on the Government to defer the introduction of these changes until April 2004 at the earliest to consult fully with councils through the Local Government Association and other routes before they press ahead with this damaging proposal.