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Rent hike vote pulled from Dudley Council agenda

Dudley councillors were left confused and suspecting political manipulation after a delay in the formal process of setting council rents.

By Martyn Smith
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The decision was due to be made at a meeting of the full Dudley Council on Thursday (January 29) but a surprise eleventh-hour announcement by the council leader meant a vote on the proposed full increase of 4.8 percent was cancelled.

A cabinet meeting directly before the council meeting was told by Councillor Patrick Harley the council has been wrong in how it set rent as part of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) in previous years.

Councillor Harley said: “Following advice from the monitoring officer I move this item is withdrawn from the agenda. This is based on the proposed recommendation seeking approval of the HRA and rent setting from full council.

“The decision is solely in the scope of cabinet, I am mindful of allowing opposition members to have full opportunity to put forward any recommendations for consideration by cabinet.”

He added, after advice from the council’s monitoring officer, a top lawyer who is director of governance, the decision would be made at the next scheduled cabinet meeting on February 11.

Dudley's cabinet meeting in January where councillors were told rent setting was a metter for them, not full council. Picture Martyn Smith/LDRS free for LDRS use
Dudley's cabinet meeting where councillors were told rent setting was a metter for them, not full council. Photo: Martyn Smith/LDRS

Councillor Jackie Cowell said: “This has never happened before, it has always gone to full council.”

Councillor Harley replied: “It may have gone to full council before but we were doing that wrong.

“Now we have a monitoring officer who is absolutely on the ball – knows the way we do things correctly – we don’t fall foul of compliance and, procedural-wise, we are doing things correctly.”

The proposed rent hikes in the ring-fenced HRA would see the average rent for a council house rise from £99.18 to £103.94; an increase some opposition councillors think may be politically unpalatable, even to groups that supported the last budget from the Conservative-run authority.

Councillor Shaun Keasey, from Reform UK, said: “The HRA was another example of Conservative panic, even the Lib Dems wouldn’t back another cruel rent rise.

“The Tories now have to impose it via an executive decision.”