Council housing - what's going on in Bolsover?

It comes to something when we have to rely upon the Government to tell us things that Bolsover won’t but there’s something rather strange about how the Council manages its housing. There’s a Council meeting at 10am on Wednesday the 25^th of January and here’s a couple of questions I’ll be asking the portfolio-holder for housing management:

1.       According to the data provided by Bolsover to the DCLG (Department of Community and Local Government) the number of vacant council properties in Bolsover over the past few years was as follows:

2008 : 10

2009 : 40

2010 : 106

2011 : 128

With average rents of over £63 this dramatic deterioration in performance has lost the authority over £350,000 in the last year alone.

During the same period there has been a national improvement of nearly 25% in reducing voids so can he account for Bolsover’s problems?

2.       According to the data provided by Bolsover to the DCLG the number of applicants on the Council’s housing register dropped from 3,299 in 2010 to 1,180 in 2011 meaning that nearly two in three applicants have been removed from the register.

As a result Bolsover now has not only the shortest list in the County but also the smallest percentage of households in its District on the register. Going right back to 1997, when DCLG records begin, Bolsover has never had so few people on its housing register. It is all the more remarkable that it has occurred when the national trend has seen another increase in households registering.

Can he explain what traumatic event in 2011 occasioned this outcome in Bolsover and what measures has he put in place to ensure that no-one in genuine housing need has been removed from the register?

 
I’ll let you know what reply I get.