Fear over £900m housing shortfall

The Lib Dems accused Labour of holding secret talks over the potential gap in council house funding - and say they only found out after a report was accidentally sent to a party member.

But today the council hit back, saying the figures were not new and there had not been any "secret discussions".

The report entitled 'Housing Big Issues' says: "The 900m investment backlog of the late 90s is largely solved, however, forward projections beyond 2010/11 show a big capital investment gap materialising again - another 900m.

"Post 2010 - revenue position becoming unsustainable too."

It also states: "It is very important to understand that we do not anticipate having the capital resources, post 2010/11 to maintain the stock in the 'Decent Homes' condition, let alone do all the other essential work that falls outside the technical Decent Homes standard.

"Going forward, it is difficult to see how the existing system of housing finance, especially with the currently foreseeable resource levels within that system, could support the long term sustainability of stock."

The Lib Dems say if action isn't taken quickly the cash crisis could the mean millions of pounds worth of investment spent on bringing the city's housing stock up to standard could be wasted.

They say this would leave Sheffield in the same position as it was at the end of the 90s when huge investment was needed to bring housing stock up to a decent level because of previous under investment.

Now they are calling for urgent talks, involving councillors from all parties and council tenants, about how to tackle the problem. They are to table a proposal at Wednesday's full Council meeting which, if accepted, would see the issue brought into the public arena.

Coun Bob McCann, Liberal Democrat shadow cabinet member for housing, said: "Given the importance of this issue, I am surprised and disappointed to learn that Labour have known about the impending crisis but have chosen to hide it from local tenants.

"According to the report produced by the council we could face the prospect of a poor, sub-standard maintenance service after the Decent Homes programme comes to an end.

"This is unacceptable given the level of investment at risk and the rights of Sheffield tenants."

But the council says the report, dated July 20, 2007, was compiled for all the city's MPs as a worst case scenario so they could lobby central government for more cash.

Coun Chris Weldon, cabinet member for safer neighbourhoods, said the council had not been discussing the issue behind closed doors.

"It's no big secret. We have already held talks with tenants and residents' representatives about what the position will be post 2010. The important thing is that we worked with tenants to bring in the Decent Homes funding and we will involve them in any future decision making every step of the way.

“This report is about putting a plan in place to address council housing issues post 2010 for the next 30 years. We want to continue to invest in council housing and we will take a series of options to tenants to see which options they prefer.”

Director of housing Carl Tupling said: “This is not news and it is certainly not a secret. We have had an issue in the past where there has been a backlog of repairs which can’t be carried out because of funding issues and we don’t want it to happen again. The report is about putting a system in place to safeguard our Decent Homes investment.”