Highland Council Leader's bedroom tax plea
23rd October 2013
The Leader of The Highland Council, Councillor Drew Hendry, has written yet again to the UK Government urging a re-think over its under-occupancy policy, which he says is impacting heavily on the Highlands and in particular remote and rural communities.
In a letter to Lord Freud, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Welfare Reform, the Leader urges the Government to back a recommendation from one of its own committees – the Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee – to exempt settlements of fewer than 3,000 people.
This exemption would recognise the serious lack of adequate suitable alternative accommodation in small and rural communities for those seeking to downsize to meet the under-occupancy rules. Currently there are over 66 Highland Communities with no one bedroom council houses and 16 without even 2 bedroom units.
Councillor Hendry said: “We would of course like the bedroom tax policy to be scrapped altogether as it is an unfair to many people living in the Highlands, where we just do not have enough smaller homes to allow people to downsize.
“I was, however, heartened by the recommendation of the Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee which offers a solution to at least those living in remote and rural communities. This would see settlements of fewer than 3,000 excluded from the policy.
“I was disappointed by Lord Freud’s initial response, which focused on the housing situation in England and the Localism Act. This is concerning and I have to question if he has a genuine understanding of the difficulties facing communities across the Highlands. Highland Council will not be fobbed off with a “cut and paste” letter sent to Councils in England.
“I have asked him, once more, to consider adopting the recommendation of one of the Government’s own committees and help the rural and remote communities of the Highlands.”
Related Businesses
Related Articles
As intimated in Highland Council's budget plan, a new senior management structure is to be implemented following approval by Council 14th March. It reconfigures the senior management team into two layers, rather than three and brings Highland Council into line with other benchmarked authorities.
Today, Morrison Construction introduced some of their local apprentices who are working on the UK Governments' Levelling Up Funded refurbishment project at the Northern Meeting Park in Inverness. All these apprentices have been recruited from the Highland area.
The by-election to elect a councillor to represent Ward 19 - Inverness South on The Highland Council has been won by Duncan Cameron McDonald - Independent who was one of the eight candidates who contested the vacancy. Voters in the ward went to the poll yesterday (Thursday 11 April) and the by-election count was held this morning in The Highland Council Headquarters in Inverness.
The Technology Placement Programme offers funding to businesses in the Highland Council area to cover up to 70% of the cost of employing a student or graduate. The Technology Placement Programme offers funding to businesses in the Highland Council area to cover up to 70% of the cost of employing a student or graduate.
Following the success of its Business Digital Grant scheme launched last year, The Highland Council is delighted to announce further funding. This is to help Highland companies access digital support alongside other business growth support.
The Highland Council is delighted to confirm a highly successful second year for Public Service Obligation (PSO) flights between Wick and Aberdeen. The period from April 2023 to March 2024 has seen a substantial increase in passenger numbers, with several months seeing over 1,000 passengers using the service, and overall the service has seen year on year growth of 25%.
Members of Highland Council, who met on Thursday 14 March 2024, approved a corporate Digital Ambition, which has been designed to deliver significant organisational change across Council services, recognising the current priorities within the organisation. The Strategy, which is embedded within the wider Council Delivery Plan, has been developed to focus attention and resources on areas of change which will deliver the greatest benefit to the Council.
The Council remains committed to supporting mentoring in our schools, including the support that is currently delivered through the MCR Pathways programme. Highland Council is currently undertaking a review of Employability Support provided by a number of different council services and how these relate to the work carried out by external partners and in our schools.
Highland Council members have considered and agreed a revised draft Highland Outcome Improvement Plan. The partnership plan has been reviewed and updated by the Community Planning Partnership.
Members at today's (14 March 2024) meeting of The Highland Council agreed the local authority's new draft Community Wealth Building Strategy. They were also asked to note that a period of public engagement on the draft will now begin, with a final strategy returning to full Council for consideration in September.