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NEW HOMES BONUS
PAYOUTS SHOW MERSEYSIDE IS BUILDING
COMMUNITIES in Merseyside
will benefit from an extra £12.8 million during 2014/15 after
thousands of new homes were created in the county, Housing Minister
Kris Hopkins has confirmed.
The Minister published final allocations for this year's New Homes
Bonus payments, totalling over £900 million, which will be shared
among England's 353 Councils.
The announcement means that since the New Homes Bonus began in 2011,
Councils will have received funding for delivering 550,000
newly built homes and conversions, including over 160,000 affordable
homes, and for bringing 93,000 empty homes back into use.
These final allocations bring the total given to Councils since the
scheme's launch to over £2 billion.
The New Homes Bonus was launched in 2011 and matches the additional
Council tax raised for new homes and empty homes brought back into
use. Councils are then free to use that funding as they see fit to
benefit their local area; from providing new facilities to
protecting frontline services or simply freezing Council tax.
New figures from the National House Building Council show a 28 per
cent increase in housing supply in 2013 compared to the previous
year, while housebuilding is at its highest level since 2007.
Housing Minister Kris Hopkins said:- "The New Homes Bonus lets
local people share in the benefits of development, with Councils
free to spend the money to benefit their local area. And getting
Britain building in this way is critical to our long-term economic
plan, not only building the homes communities need but creating
thousands of new jobs and apprenticeships across the country. We
will continue to pay the bonus in the future to ensure that places
that have built houses are properly rewarded for doing so."
Communities Minister Stephen Williams said:- "I'm delighted to
see the numbers of empty homes going down by 38,000 over the past
year alone. Today's New Homes Bonus payments are in recognition of
Council-led efforts to make this happen.
But I want Councils to go even further, and use the range of powers
we've put in their hands to end the blight of empty properties in
our neighbourhoods and bring them back into productive use for the
families who need the stability and security new home can provide."
Students get a taste of hospital
technology
INFORMATION technology makes the world go
round and nowhere more importantly than in the field of health care.
Year 11 pupils from Bishop Rawstorne Church of England Academy at
Croston, near Ormskirk, are studying IT in hospitals for one of
their exams this summer and heard first-hand about the subject from
Luke Twigger, Head of IT at Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS
Trust. "To put this learning into context I asked Luke if he would
give a presentation on how the Trust uses IT and how vital it is to
their work. The pupils were delighted with the visit and found the
presentation extremely useful to help with their learning for this exam." said Barbra Webber, lead teacher for computing.
Luke added:- "This is an exciting year for the Trust as we
make major upgrades to our IT systems which should bring big
improvements for patients and staff. It was great to share some of
our thinking with the next generation of potential IT specialists."
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Get your skates
on!
3 skate parks are set to be
built in Liverpool for young people to use. Mayor Joe Anderson
announced last year that he had allocated £1.5 million of capital
funding to be invested in schemes for young people.
Consultation has now taken place with more than 1,000 young people
about the preferred location of the skate parks, as well as their
design and use.
Feedback has shown they want the sites; which they have dubbed:-
"wheeled
sports parks"; to be able to be used by scooters and BMX bikes
as well as roller skates and skateboards, and be suitable for all
abilities.
They will be located across the City, with potential sites in
Everton, Dingle Bank, Newsham Park in Tuebrook and Otterspool all
being investigated to see which are most suitable. A smaller site is
also set to be created at in Norris Green.
Mayor Anderson said:- "We desperately need more good quality
facilities that our young people can use and the feedback we have
had demonstrates there is overwhelming support for this type of
facility. No-one knows young people better than young people
themselves, which I why I wanted them to drive this scheme. I
am passionate about making sure that they get the opportunity to
influence projects that will benefit their age group."
The move follows a campaign by a
group of young people, who have been supported by Merseyside Youth
Association (MYA), calling for the introduction of skate parks.
Lewis Golby, aged 18, said:- "I'm really pleased that progress
is being made. There is a massive demand for skate parks in
Liverpool and they can't open soon enough."
Phil Cahill, aged 19, added:- "At the moment we have to go
outside the City and the overwhelming response to our campaign shows
there's no doubt something like this is much needed. I am really
pleased with the way it has turned out."
Liam Corcoran, a youth worker at MYA, said:-
"This is a great example of the local authority taking note of the
views of young people and working with them to make dreams become a
reality. We would like to thank everyone involved in the project so
far."
A final decision on exact locations will be made shortly and it is
hoped that, subject to planning approval, work on the first site
could start in spring.
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