Following Conservative Home's exposure of councils who've not embraced DCLG allocations guidelines, Grant Shapps has issued a statement blaming council officers who oppose reform.The initial article, posted on 13 August, found it "disturbing that....Conservative councils are....failing to implement Conservative policies" by not giving priority to ex-Armed Forces applicants.
Shapps's follow-up statement says that many Conservative councillors have been "kept in the dark" by "council officials [who are] covertly opposing housing support for members of the Armed Forces".
Mindful of the views of their electorates, many councillors have informed Conservative Home that they are "pursuing the matter".
The Labour party housing blog Red Brick comments on these "Conservative Home splutters", pointing out that the whole point of the Localism Act, which gave councils greater freedom over their allocation policies, was to "let a thousand flowers bloom", not for all councils to follow Hammersmith & Fulham's lead.
ReplyDeleteThe article also highlights the practical issues, dismissed in the Conservative Home article, of framing rules that are fair, avoid discrimination and can be interpreted consistently by relatively junior staff people working under pressure.