Council tenants across the country can look forward to lower than anticipated rent rises this year - thanks in no small part to tenants in Wigan.
Housing Minister Margaret Beckett has announced new support to help councils cut their planned rent increases, with the average guideline increase for 2009/10 halved from 6.2 per cent to 3.1 per cent.
It means that Wigan tenants who were facing a rent rise of just under £3 a week will now pay on average around £2 extra.
The borough's tenants reacted with concern to the original guidelines and Marjorie Marsden, tenant board member and deputy chair of Wigan and Leigh Housing, wrote to the government in December, expressing the concerns of her fellow board members.
Local MPs Neil Turner and Ian McCartney took up the Wigan tenants’ cause and met Margaret Beckett in Parliament to press their case. Since then others around the country joined the call for a rethink.
Marjorie said today:
"I want to say a big thank you to the Leader of the Council, our local MPs and Margaret Beckett for listening to us and halving the rent increase planned for the coming year."
The council’s cabinet member for Wigan and Leigh Housing, Councillor Terry Halliwell, said:
“The tenants decided the government proposal for 6% was too much for this difficult year and we supported them. I’m glad the government has listened - at a time when many people are facing a harsher economic climate this is the right decision.”
Even though the rent rise is smaller, it will still pay for replacing 8,000 heating systems, saving tenants over £6 a week on their fuel bills. That’s because the government has promised to make funding available to support local authorities to make the changes and revise their rents for 2009/10 accordingly.
The new rent figures were confirmed at the budget-fixing council meeting on March 11th.
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