£60million needed to improve Rossendale housing (From Lancashire Telegraph)

£60million needed to improve Rossendale housing

3:42pm Friday 12th March 2010 in

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A REPORT into housing in Rossendale has found that more than £60million is needed to improve hazardous properties, adapt homes and easing fuel poverty.

A study, based on a random sample of public and privately owned households, was commissioned by Pennine Lancashire authorities to help future decision making.

It found that only 63 per cent of vulnerable householders were living within a decent standard of housing, leaving an estimated shortfall of 570 people living in poor, inadequate homes.

There are approximately 4,500 householders within the Valley spending more than 10 per cent of their income on heating.

An investment of £7.1million would be needed to put this right.

The report identifies that there is £32.2million of category one hazards – such as damp and mould, overcrowding, lack of light and structural collapse – within Valley properties.

Costs for undertaking adaptat-ions for disabled residents would be in the region of £4.9million.

The report concludes: “In total the report identifies that there is a need for £60.1million of investment required across Rossendale in order to remedy hazards, provide adaptations and alleviate fuel poverty.

“Resources from the Govern-ment that the council uses to support the above have reduced from £668,000 in 2007/8 to £431,000 for 2009/2010 although current indications are that this may increase slightly in 2010/11.

“This obviously, impacts on the ability of the council to effectively address the issues identified within the report.”

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which campaigns on issues of poverty and housing, recently claimed that to reduce the number of people in poverty, the UK needs to recover not just from recession, but from deep-seated problems emerging before the downturn.