
STRATFORD LABOUR BUDGET RESPONSE – Huge boost for families in Stratford-on-Avon, including new funding to Warwickshire County Council to tackle potholes and build homes.
Labour’s first Budget will fix the foundations and help deliver on the promise of change that families and business across Stratford-on-Avon so badly need. As well as extra funding for the NHS, a higher minimum wage and tackle homelessness, the Chancellor announces new support for councils in places like Warwickshire including:
· £500m to fix a million extra potholes a year
· Funding for 5,000 more affordable homes
· £230m to tackle homelessness
Responding to the Budget, Stratford Labour’s Lee Rhodes said,
“This is a budget to fix the foundations and help deliver the promise of change that families and business across Stratford-on-Avon so badly need.The chancellor today focussed on the people’s priorities – getting us out of the mess the Conservatives left us in.
“That means protection for working people, funding to bring down waiting lists and get our NHS back on its feet, and real investment to rebuildBritain. But it also means real help for places like Stratford.
“Thanks to Labour’s budget, there will be hundreds of millions made available to fix the potholes that blight our roads, build a new generation of affordable homes and tackling homelessness.
“Britain is a great country – but for 14 long years theConservatives ran it into the ground. But the work of change has begun – and with this budget Labour is getting Britain back on track.”
Help for places like Warwickshire to fix the foundations and deliver on Labour’s promise of change
Potholes
· Over one and a half billion pounds has been committed to fix local roads and deliver on Labour’s manifesto commitment to fix a million more potholes a year
· A £500 million uplift in funding to fix local roads over the next year – an almost 50% increase on the commitment made by the previous government for the current financial year.
· This brings the total amount dedicated to fixing the roads in England over the next year to £1.6 billion, and means the government is set to exceed our manifesto commitment to support local authorities to fix a million more potholes a year.
· It will provide more money to councils so they can not only fix existing damage but get ahead and deliver lasting road maintenance work so that potholes do not form in the first place.
· With people spending up to £460 to fix car issues caused by damaged roads, the uplift will benefit millions of working people who will keep hundreds of pounds in their pockets.
· The funding will be devolved to Local Authorities up and down the country from April 2025, and allocations will bean nounced in due course.
Affordable Homes Programme: building more homes
· The Chancellor made an immediate injection of£500m of additional capital into the current Affordable Homes Programme for next year.
· This will support up to 5,000 new social and affordable homes, with bidding open to local councils and other social landlords immediately.
· This takes overall investment in housing supply for next year to over £5 billion.
· Government will set out details of further grant investment at phase 2 of the Spending Review. This new programme will lay the foundations for delivering the manifesto commitments to deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation.
Tackling Homelessness
· £230 million in additional funding for homelessness, to prevent rises in the number of families in temporary accommodation and to prevent rough sleeping.