Council's Homes Fund Bid fails after Labour's sums didn't add up
It’s recently been discovered that Labour-controlled Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council has missed out on thousands in potential funding from the Governments's Green Homes grant funding, following a failed application. The scheme, which was announced by the Chancellor back in July 2020, has been open to all local authorities in England, the scheme was designed to provide grants to local authorities to improve energy efficiency in low-income households.
Hundreds of local authorities in England have been successful with their applications, indeed, our neighbours at Conservative-controlled North Warwickshire Borough Council have successfully been awarded £320,000 for 54 homes.
Upon hearing about this, our local Member of Parliament for North Warwickshire & Bedworth, Craig Tracey MP, questioned the Government on why Labour-controlled Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council was unsuccessful. Lord Callanan, the Minister responsible for the scheme at BEIS responded by saying “Unfortunately, the costs provided for capital spend by Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council within the cost breakdown table did not match the total amount of capital funding the Local Authority had requested. This meant the assessors were unable to determine the correct figure to base the assessment on”.
Commenting on Nuneaton & Bedworth’s failed application, Craig Tracey MP said, “I was disappointed to learn that NBBC had missed out on substantial Government funding that a nearby local authority had managed to secure to the tune of £320k, so I wrote to the Minister to see whether they had applied for it and if so why they had been unsuccessful".
That initial disappointment turned to incredulity when I received Lord Callanan‘s response which stated that whilst the Council were eligible for the scheme, their initial bid didn’t allow them to determine the amount of funding being requested. Not only that but when they were given a second bite of the cherry and the opportunity to rectify this, their re-submission costs didn’t match their original submission, so it was rejected.
"Once again we see avoidable mistakes being made by the Council Leadership which will lead either to local taxpayer missing out or ultimately having to foot the bill”.
Yet again we have another example of incompetence by Labour Councillors at the Town Hall, and this time they have lost the Borough thousands in potential funding. At the elections on Thursday 6th May, you have the opportunity to put an end to 45 years of Labour decline at the Town Hall, and vote in Conservative Councillors with a clear plan to bring about vision, ambition and aspiration for the Borough.
