Plans for £250m council home refurbishments to be presented to cabinet
The strategy includes the Railway Village and six high-rise blocks
Swindon’s council housing could get refurbishments worth more than £250m over the next five financial years.
The plans, which are part of a new housing asset management strategy that is aiming to invest between £38m and £66m a year in long-term repairs, will be presented to the cabinet today.
Around half of all 10,383 council homes were built in the post-period, using non-traditional methods, and are now showing need for improvement.
The strategy states: “Due to a combination of an ageing portfolio and a lack of proactive investment in core areas such as roofs, windows and kitchens, the Council has experienced a continual rise in the level of reactive maintenance over the last five years, where core components have now reached (and exceeded) the end of their lifespan and are at risk of failing to comply with the Decent Homes Standard.”
The council is planning to borrow £152m to fund the plans with the rest of the money set to come from the Housing Revenue Account, a budget that is used for managing the council’s properties and mostly consists of the rent paid by tenants.
Swindon’s council homes are currently also being inspected by the Regulator of Social Housing since the council referred itself to the regulatory body last December.
Councillor Janine Howarth, Cabinet Member for Housing, said: “Every tenant has a right to a decent and safe home, but as this first ever Council asset management strategy calls out, for too long there has been a lack of proactive investment in the maintenance and improvement of council-owned homes.
“Our tenants deserve better and we are determined to begin to put that right. This asset management strategy makes clear that some of our properties are not in an acceptable condition and sets out how we’re looking to address this over the next five years”.
Just like the housing improvement plan, the new asset management strategy is set to be overseen by a Housing Improvement Board which consists of both tenants and councillors from different parties.
During the upcoming 2025-26 financial year, the council will be working on strategies detailing how the refurbishments can be realised as soon as possible.
“We have a long-term plan to prioritise known faults and issues in some of our homes in both the historic Railway Village as well as our six high-rise blocks which have suffered from historical underinvestment over the years.
“It commits the Council to investing £250m in our social housing over the next five years, supporting the delivery of our housing improvement plan. This is a 78 per cent increase in planned investment compared to the previous five years”, added Cllr Howarth.
The cabinet meeting starts at 6 pm today.