Recognising that many council tenants are struggling to manage their rising cost of living at the present time, we will be proposing for the council to adopt the minimum increase available for tenants rents, a 1.2% increase.
The Swindon Labour Group will be proposing to restrict Council rent increases for 2015/16 to just 1.2%, rather than the 2.2% as proposed by the Conservative Group. This will be presented as an amendment to the Conservative Cabinet’s Housing Revenue Account (HRA) proposals at the Budget Meeting on the 23rd February.
The Labour Group have said this will save tenants more than £40 a year in rent, helping with their cost of living. This can be paid for through the budget surplus the HRA is expected to have in 2015/16.
The Leader of the Labour Group, Councillor Jim Grant, said: “Recognising that many council tenants are struggling to manage their rising cost of living at the present time, we will be proposing for the council to adopt the minimum increase available for tenants rents, a 1.2% increase.
Our proposal for a 1.2% increase would save tenants more than £40 over the course of the year in rents compared to the Conservative’s plans, and won’t lead to any cuts to the Council’s kitchen and bathroom renewals programme as there is sufficient scope in the HRA budget to cover this shortfall in income.”