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From the archive – Labour pushes service privatisation agenda
Inside Housing looks back at what was making news in the housing sector 10, 20 and 30 years ago this week
30 years ago
Tenants in Scottish new towns were planning a campaign to counter government plans to wind up their development corporations.
A report called The Way Ahead set out the timetable for winding up, which was expected to form the basis of a forthcoming white paper.
Under the proposals, wind-up orders would be made for corporations at East Kilbride and Glenrothes in 1991, Cumbernauld in 1993, Livingston in 1995 and Irvine in 1996. The process was expected to take about three years each.
However, there were fears that it could lead to private companies taking over as landlords, despite a survey showing that two-thirds of tenants wanted to have their councils continue as landlord.
Labour MP Henry McLeish said the proposals were “a betrayal of 40 years of success and achievement”.
20 years ago
The Labour government was to take a ‘hawkish’ stance to urge councils to use the private sector to manage their services.
Town halls were to be warned that even in-house teams rated ‘adequate’ should face competition from the private sector, to push ‘best value’.
The apparent move towards privatisation of services came as the Local Government Act 1999 – under which compulsory competitive tendering was scrapped – received royal assent.
The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions was expected to unveil tough guidance on competition. It was reported that the policy unit wanted to stress the need for mixed markets and push the idea that housing management should no longer rest solely with council departments.
Housing minister Hilary Armstrong called on local authorities to curtail the “hostilities which have marked their relationship with the private sector over the past 18 years”.
She added: “Councils cannot afford to turn their backs on whole swathes of quality service suppliers simply because of political hang-ups.”
10 years ago
Local authorities were told they would have to wait three years for the dismantling of the council housing finance system unless they unanimously agreed to the government’s terms.
Housing minister John Healey (pictured) launched a consultation on plans to hand control of rents and sales receipts to all 202 stock-holding councils. However, £18bn of debt would also be redistributed among those councils – a plan opposed by debt-free councils.
The government said without unanimity, it would need to pass legislation to force through the changes.
The consultation paper said it could set out its terms within 12 months but it would be impractical to negotiate with each authority.
Picture: Guzelian
