So far, as revealed by the Salford Star last year (see here), the costs leading up to the ballot on the ownership of homes transfer from Salford City Council to Salix Homes has been £1.04million – with Salford Council coughing up £670,000 and Salix adding £370,000. £250,000 of this total has gone to consultants, while the rest has gone on `other costs' including leaflets, booklets and more.
Now the Salford Star can reveal that there's a further £2.2million to be added to the transfer costs, giving a total of £3.24million. By the time ballot has finished, and during the worst public service cuts in living memory, it will have cost Salford Council £1.24million and Salix Homes £2million.
According to the official Salford Council Business Case document, the money will have been spent on "financial and legal consultants, marketing and communications work, independent tenant advice, Stock Condition Survey, ICT system changes, project management and all other necessary costs of transfer".
Salford City Council has received £56.8million in Decent Homes funding from central government. In 2012, the city had 4,631 Salix area homes which failed to reach a decent standard. By 2015 it will have 723 non-decent houses – out of 8,800 properties. All over Central Salford, towerblocks and houses have been refurbished with the funding (no matter how well tenants believe the work has been carried out).
To remove the backlog of non-decent homes completely would cost £4.7million according to Salford Council estimates. The £3.24million spent on the transfer would go a long way towards wiping out the backlog of non-decent houses in the city...
* This is the second in a number of articles on the proposed stock transfer. Over the next few weeks the Salford Star will be looking into the Salix case in great detail.
* Read Part 1 – Thousands could lose homes if Salford Council Salix transfer goes ahead – click here
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