Yorkshire and Humber worst region for new council homes

Yorkshire and Humber has seen the lowest number of new council homes built of any region in England, according to new figures.

Research by the property developer StripeHomes claims a total of 10,180 homes have been delivered by local councils across England over the last five years.

Around a third (2,930) of these new homes have been in London, with the South East (1,330), West Midlands (1,270) and South West (1,160) also seeing some of the highest levels of delivery.

But the worst council performance has been in Yorkshire and the Humber, with just 310 homes delivered in five years by local authorities in the region.

The East of England has also seen a low level of housing delivered in the last five years at 600, as has the North West (780).

In terms of the best performing councils, Camden and Plymouth share the top spot having delivered 480 homes since 2015.

Hackney Council has also performed well (410), along with Birmingham (390), Stockport (340), Wandsworth (330), Newcastle upon Tyne (320), Ealing, Woking and Nottingham.

The data also shows that as many as 205 local authorities have not delivered a single property over the last five years.

‘It’s important to give credit where it’s due and local authority housing delivery plays a very important role in the wider DNA of the property market, providing homes to those that arguably need them most desperately,’ said StripeHomes managing director, James Forrester.

‘However, it’s fair to say that more could and should be done to increase the delivery of local authority housing.

‘As is always the case with the government, a string of excuses is sure to follow any questions around the inadequate delivery housing by individual local authorities. Some may argue that their performance is proportionate with the size of their local area, others have slimed their way out of taking responsibility by placing the handing the task off to the private sector,’ added Mr Forrester.

‘However, the statistics don’t lie and shine a light on those doing what they can to build more homes and those that have neglected the crisis on their doorstep completely. We won’t name and shame the local authorities to have done this as we’re sure they have very good reasons as to why they’ve turned their back on delivering homes but for 205 local authorities to have seen no homes delivered via this route since 2015 says a lot about the problem at hand.

‘The process itself needs a radical overhaul as leaving the private sector completely accountable provides a scapegoat for local councils when targets are not met while allowing politicians to tackle housing problems also doesn’t work.’

Photo Credit – AndrewExtra (Pixabay)