Wellingborough’s New Homes Bonus
The Government has recently announced the third year payments for New Homes Bonus. This is a payment related to the number of houses which have been built in an area or empty properties which have been brought back into use. For 2013-14, which is for completion of properties between October 2011 to October 2012, Wellingborough built 133 houses. The total payment for this year was £154,153 which also includes empty homes and payments for affordable houses delivered. As the New Homes Bonus is a cumulative payment over 6 years the total amount received by the Council was £614,758. The Council has not decided where this funding should be allocated and therefore it goes towards the general fund and maintaining existing services.
https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/increasing-the-number-of-available-homes/supporting-pages/new-homes-bonus
The Chamber of Commerce believes that this funding together with other infrastructure funding should also be combined with housing and other land receipts the Council generates and be packaged together to form an infrastructure fund which could help support development which might not otherwise come forward.