Council to receive bonus for Barlow Drive Gypsy Traveller site - Cheshire

From the Winsford Guardian

CHESHIRE West and Chester Council (CWAC) will be financially rewarded for the new Gypsy Traveller site at Barlow Drive in Winsford.

Under the New Homes Bonus (NHB) payment, council documents show the authority will receive a £180,000 windfall over six years.

Gypsy Traveller sites in public ownership – like those due to be built at Barlow Drive – is classed as ‘affordable housing’ by the Homes and Communities Agency, therefore CWAC qualifies for payment.

Winsford Town Council is eligible to bid for a 20 per cent share of the money, which it plans to spend on ‘quick win’ improvements identified in the Draft Neighbourhood Plan.

The NHB was launched by the Department for Communities and Local Government in 2011, after the credit crunch caused new homes building to fall to its lowest level since 1924.

The scheme sees the Government match council tax raised on each new home for the first six years the property is occupied.

Government guidance says local authorities are expected to ‘consult communities about how they will spend the money, especially communities where housing stock has increased.’

Winsford Town Council points to consultation undertaken as part of the Neighbourhood Plan, which outlined ‘quick wins’ for improving the town’s infrastructure.

Quick Wins included replacing street furniture, encouraging the formation of local clean teams, demolishing the derelict former ‘Greedy Pig’ takeaway building at the bottom of High Street and improving roundabouts landscaping.

Elsewhere was a commitment to marketing footpath routes and Winsford marina, improving footpaths, cycle routes and signage and introducing a regular Artisan Market.

Clerk Alan Warburton said: “What the Town Council have decided is that the money will go towards the quick wins outlined in the neighbourhood plan.

“Every penny will go towards delivering aspirations people of Winsford have asked for.

“In some authorities without a Neighbourhood Plan, any New Homes Bonus monies could be spent on individual pet projects.

“The benefit of having the Neighbourhood Plan is that here in Winsford the town council is committed to reinvesting that money in facilities that people have asked for.”

A Council spokesman said: “All local authorities receive New Homes Bonus when new properties or properties that are brought back into use are added to the Council Tax register. A sum directly related to the Council Tax to be generated is then received for a period of 6 years.

“The funding for this scheme will come from central government who have ‘top sliced’ previous local government funding allocations, therefore New Homes Bonus represents a re-allocation of funding as opposed to new funding that is being made available to Councils.

“As a result of this, Cheshire West and Chester Council has established a policy that seeks to maintain a level of funding to support the council’s overall budget, whilst also making available a proportion of the New Homes Bonus to the community where the new properties are located."

How it works:

80 per cent will be made available to support Cheshire West and Chester Council’s core revenue budget; and

20 Per cent will be made available to the ’New Homes Bonus Community Fund’.

This allocation will allow local communities to define and deliver priority schemes locally from the funding received.

Winsford Town Council as the local community body will therefore be eligible to bid for 20 per cent of the funding resulting from any development at Barlow Drive, Winsford.