In the latest Government policy designed to encourage house building to meet the increasing demand for housing, the New Homes Bonus has allocated a provisional £1,638,635 to Harborough District Council. The New Homes Bonus is paid each year for 6 years for every new house built. It is based on the amount of extra Council Tax revenue raised from new houses, conversions and long-term empty homes brought back into use. There is also an extra payment for providing affordable homes - £20,160 has provisionally been allocated to Harborough. All provisional allocations can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/increasing-the-number-of-availablehomes/supporting-pages/new-homes-bonus. Councils, including Harborough Council must make their representations to the Department for Communities and Local Government by 10 January before the final figures are allocated.
Sir Edward commented: “The money allocated to Harborough District Council for the year 2014/15 will greatly assist my constituents. There is currently a shortage of affordable housing in Harborough although the building of eight new houses at Knights Close in Husbands Bosworth this year is good news. The help to buy initiative and the new homes bonus will also assist the construction industry, builders and people who want to get onto the property ladder. The planning applications for new houses will have to be approved by the Council’s planning committee, and existing residents’ concerns will need to be taken into account, but there is no reason why new homes in the right places should not be built in Harborough.”