Council to appeal to Government over rent increase

Rochdale Councillors will lobby the government over its Council house rent restructuring method.

The Government plans to bring Council rents in line with rents in the non-Council social rented housing sector. This will see a Council rent increase of 6.28% in Rochdale.

Councillor Colin Lambert, leader of the Rochdale Labour Group, said he would try and lobby government to give the Council more freedom in setting their rental prices.

Meanwhile, if the Council was to increase its rent in line with the council tax increase (3.7%) then it will lose all surplus in its Housing Revenue Account by 2012 and may be forced into a more dramatic rise in the future.

Head of Strategic Housing Paul Beardmore said: "6.28% seems quite high but we could see a 10 to 12% increase in future if we don't go through with it now."

Councillor William Hobhouse said: "It seems that we will have to go through with this increase but the Government should give us more flexibility. The government is restricting us, they should give us more freedom in our own affairs."

Growing numbers of tenants are concerned about the proposal since it represents a rate that is more than double the current rate of inflation, and with inflation predicted by the Government to fall to 1% by April, will be six times the rate of inflation.