CLG's consultation on fhe mechanisms for top-slicing New Homes Bonus to fund Local Economic Partnership's Growth Funds is nearing an end, with comments due on the 19th September.
The principle of top-slicing £400milliion (estimated to be about 35% of the total) from NHB was never up for discussion - the government had already made the decision. But there were questions about how the money should be split between different partners, who should hold it and whether any of it should be ring-fenced for specific purposes.
In the Shires
There are interesting proposals about how the money should be pooled in two-tier areas. The government seems minded to protect shire districts, for which New Homes Bonus forms a significant and growing part of overall government grant, at the expense of shire counties, which are least affected by the amount of New Homes Bonus they receive. Currently, New Homes Bonus is split 80%-20% between the two. One of the options is that ALL the New Homes Bonus is taken away from counties and passed to LEPs. This would reduce from 35% to 18% the percentage top-sliced from the NHB accruing to shire districts.
The inevitable alternative is a straight pro-rata share across both shire districts and counties. But with the National Audit Office having lambasted the government for failing to assess the impact of NHB on shire districts in particular making even furthe incursions into the income of some districts might be thought of as a step too far.
This has some relevance for how LEPs in shire areas might vew the empty homes agenda, as counties will be less likely to expect "their" money to be spent on initiatives in which they previously had no interest (with the honourable exception of Kent).
In London
In London, there is a single London-wide LEP. But this is apparently an advisory body and the NHB will not be passed to it but instead to the Greater London Assembly - England's one remaining regional government.