WIREDGOV

Thirteen housing schemes currently in procurement and worth over £1.2bn will continue to be supported through the Private Finance Initiative during the next spending review period, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) confirmed today. 

Twenty-five housing schemes under contract will also continue to be supported, however funding support will be withdrawn for a further 13 pipeline schemes that would have cost an additional £1.9bn.

DCLG's decision – set out in a joint letter to Local Authorities from Richard McCarthy, director general for housing and planning at DCLG and HCA chief executive, Pat Ritchie – follows a review of housing PFI that could have seen support for all non-contractually committed schemes withdrawn, given DCLG's tight spending review settlement.

Commenting on the Department's decision, Pat Ritchie said: 'I am pleased that despite having to make some tough decisions following the Spending Review, DCLG is able to commit support for these housing PFI schemes which have the potential to make a real difference to local communities.

'At the HCA we will now concentrate on helping Local Authorities maximise the impact of available funding, through our expertise on procurement and other technical services.  We will also work with those councils which have received disappointing news today, to look at any ways in which their objectives might be supported through a non-PFI route.'

The 13 schemes currently in procurement will now be subject to a further rigorous review of value for money, with the outcome expected in December.  DCLG has made it clear that it may also be able to consider business cases for Local Authorities’ pipeline PFI schemes, should more resources be available in the latter part of the Spending Review Period.

A full list of Housing PFI schemes in procurement and in the pipeline can be downloaded from the HCA website

For more information please contact Robert Davies in the HCA press office, 020 7881 1624 / robert.davies@hca.gsx.gov.uk.

Notes to editors:

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) is the single, national housing and regeneration delivery agency for England.  Our vision is to create opportunity for people to live in homes they can afford in places they want to live, by enabling local authorities and communities to deliver the ambition they have for their own areas.  

For more information visit the HCA newsroom