Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Norris Excerpts
Monday 23rd July 2018

(6 years, 4 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Alex Norris Portrait Alex Norris (Nottingham North) (Lab/Co-op)
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The building of new homes is being choked off in Nottingham by the refusal of the Department to remove the cap on the housing revenue account. I put this to Ministers on 12 March, and was told that if Nottingham stepped up and made a strong case, it would be looked upon favourably. Such a case has been made, but it has not been looked upon favourably. Why not?

Kit Malthouse Portrait Kit Malthouse
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As a person who is new in post, I am happy to look at the specifics of that matter, but we have obviously given an extra £1 billion of funding to local authorities to bid into, and we are inviting bids at the moment for housing revenue account expansion. I would also point out that, across the whole piece, local authorities already have about £3.6 billion of headroom, and I am at a loss to understand why they are not using it.