10 January 2003
In particular, the government has adjusted deprivation measures and scrapped the 'receipts taken into account' mechanism, which compensated authorities that cannot raise money through selling capital assets.
Kensington & Chelsea claims that its HIP allocation is down by £3.5m to £8.3m compared with last year, and it is demanding an explanation from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. 'The reduction is a considerable disappointment,' said a spokeswoman for the London borough.
The ODPM says Kensington & Chelsea is one of 13 councils worst affected by the changes, although it says the largest cuts are only about 5%. Eight other London councils are on the list, with Brighton, Lincoln, Portsmouth and Southampton.
Ruth Lucas, senior project officer at the Local Government Association, said it was difficult to know exactly why budgets had changed because of the complexity of housing finance. 'It may be because of more than one factor,' she said.
PFjan2003
