On 19 January 2022 Harlow Council set out its 2022 budget proposals, which includes £122 million over the next 5 years to maintain and improve council homes and flats for its tenants.
This programme will include internal and external improvements such as new kitchens, bathrooms, central heating systems, roofs and the external structure of homes.
£5.6 million is proposed to enhance fire safety in tower blocks and flats to meet ongoing changes in building legislation. Improving energy efficiency in homes to tackle climate change and fuel poverty will also be prioritised, along with disabled adaptations in homes.
This comes on top of a further £26 million towards building new council homes as part of a New Build Programme to be announced in March.
Councillor Simon Carter, Harlow Council's Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Housing, said:
“This will be one of the biggest investments to improve the council’s over 9,000 properties. We are getting on with the job of improving council homes and ensuring that they remain decent and safe places to live for our tenants. Money that we collect from rents will go straight into this programme which will help fund a range of different works to improve the lives of our tenants.
“Building new council homes for local families is a big priority for us, but we hear what our tenants are saying too about improving council homes. So we are doing both in our proposed budget – improving our council homes with £122m investment and building new council housing with £26m which will help kick-start a new council house building programme.”
