Birmingham would refuse HRA debt
Birmingham City Council has said it would refuse any additional debt as part of reforms to the housing revenue account.
At a meeting of the Communities and Local Government select committee yesterday, John Lines, cabinet member for housing, admitted the local authority would be reluctant to take on any more debt.
At present, Birmingham’s debt is around £600 million, but the government is proposing to redistribute around £18 billion of debt to local authorities as part of plans to give councils more freedom to manage income from housing.
Committee member Clive Betts MP asked Mr Lines whether the council would refuse to take on any extra debt as part of a national redistribution. Initially, he demurred, arguing extra debt was never attractive.
However, when pressed by Mr Betts, Mr Lines said: ‘Of course we do not want to take on any extra debt…we do not want any debt, thank you.’
After the hearing, he told Inside Housing he felt the committee was confusing redistribution of debt with the subject of its inquiry into the decent homes programme.
He said: ‘The important thing is that we have not been given any figures, but I made it absolutely clear that I am willing to work with anybody on this.’
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