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Smoke and mirrors on new houses |
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Friday, 09 June 2006 |
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More doubt has been thrown on the Council's claim that new homes are being built faster. Last week it was announced that 2,400 houses for housing associations would be speeded up. But a report to Thursday 8th June's Housing Committee suggests that in fact the total programme of 6,000 houses has been slowed down compared to what was originally planned. It seems 2,400 are going faster while 3,600 are slower, with the overall result being slower progress.
The figures reported at the Committee were:
|
Year |
Original
in Year |
Original
Cumulative |
Revised
in Year |
Revised
Cumulative | |
2005/06 |
200 |
200 |
56 |
56 | |
2006/07 |
400 |
600 |
169 |
225 | |
2007/08 |
600 |
1200 |
709 |
934 | |
2008/09 |
700 |
1900 |
500 |
1434 | |
2009/10 |
800 |
2700 |
750 |
2184 | |
2010/11 |
1500 |
4200 |
992 |
3176 | |
2011/12 |
600 |
4800 |
1100 |
4276 | |
2012/13 |
600 |
5400 |
1100 |
5376 | |
2013/14 |
600 |
6000 |
581 |
5957 | |
2014/15 |
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43 |
600 |
Thus by March 2011 it appears that only 3,176 houses will have been completed under the revised plan whereas the original plan had targeted 4,200. At the Housing Committee councillors seemed confused by the figures. One Labour member said the public would not understand, although another said it must be good news and the detail did not matter!
The SNP's Cllr John Mason said afterwards, "On the face of it the programme has been slowed down and it seems to be only Labour spin that this is good news. Officials tried to explain why the figures were not as they seemed but councillors including myself were clearly not convinced. I think both the public and I would appreciate if this administration was a little more frank about facts and figures. If they only tell us good news, I am afraid their credibility is going to vanish fast."
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