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From the archive - week of 3 July

Inside Housing looks back at what was happening in the sector this week 10, 20 and 30 years ago

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30 years ago

Simon Hughes was resuming his position as housing spokesperson for the Liberal Party after a gap of five months.

The MP for the constituency, now known as Bermondsey and Old Southwark, had moved to health in January 1987 when the SDP-Liberal Alliance partners opted for a joint slate. Following the general election, they reverted to separate representation.

Mr Hughes, who failed in the 2017 general election to regain his seat from Labour, said: “My first priority over the summer will be to win the argument over housing association finance.

“We’ve had a satisfactory system that worked well and now it’s under threat.”

Other priorities were to get capital receipts released to boost council investment, he said.


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20 years ago

The phased release of £900m in capital receipts in the following two years was a key element of chancellor Gordon Brown’s Budget.

Mr Brown announced that £200m would go to local authorities to build or repair homes that year, with £700m the following year. But he gave no commitment to release the whole £5bn of receipts or details of arrangements in future years.

The government was to provide additional capital resource for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Matthew Warburton, head of housing at the Local Government Association, said: “It is a little less than we hoped for. We would have liked indicative amounts for the rest of the five-year period.”

The government also decided to keep advanced corporation tax relief for charities until April 1999, when a five-year transitional period would take effect. Mr Brown pledged to consult charities and housing associations on the move.

Tax relief for mortgage interest was to be cut from 15% to 10% from April 1998, while stamp duty was to be raised to 1.5% on sales of £250,000 or more, and 2% on sales above £500,000.

10 years ago

Gordon Brown’s new government was poised to publish a housing Green Paper within weeks.

The document, planned for publication by newly appointed communities secretary Hazel Blears before parliament’s summer recess at the end of the month, was expected to lay out fresh proposals to tackle the housing crisis and to increase the supply of new homes.

A Westminster source said: “What [the policies] will not do is pre-announce the comprehensive spending review, but the indication we’ve got is that there will be some kind of pilot for extra investment in new council homes.

“That probably means that councils get money to work with registered social landlords, rather than building homes themselves.”

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