Almost 2,000 waiting to rent council garage despite more than 1,000 empty across Northampton
ALMOST 2,000 people are waiting to rent out council garages, while more than 1,000 stand empty, according to latest figures released by Northampton Borough Council.
The figures revealed under the Freedom of Information Act show that of the 3,150 garages which are owned by the council, only 1,892 are rented out by the authority.
Almost 100 of the empty garages have had to be boarded up by the authority and cannot be rented out, despite there being a waiting list of 1,889 people.
The council’s cabinet member for council housing, Councillor Mary Markham (Con, Obelisk) said so many of the garages remained vacant because they were in places where people did not want to rent them.
She said: “Over a third of council-owned garages are currently empty because they are located in areas where there is little or no demand.
“The majority of people on the waiting list specify where they would like their garage to be and the length of time they have to wait depends on the availability in their specified location.
“Unfortunately some locations are over-subscribed while others remain under-used.”
Last year, the council spent £16,000 on improving garages in a bid to encourage more people to rent them out.
But Councillor Markham warned that any further investment in the garages could be difficult as the authority struggled to save money.
She said: “We have an issue with the age of our garage stock. The vast majority of garage sites were built with the estates and are now several decades old and require work that would cost many thousands of pounds.
“We will continue to invest where we can, but in common with other local authorities we have limited budgets and need to prioritise how we spend the money we have.
“We are currently reviewing the situation and looking at the different options.
“Over the past few years a couple of the least popular and more dilapidated sites have been cleared to make way for more on-street parking which residents have been crying out for.
“Whilst this won’t solve the issue of providing garages in over-subscribed locations, it does alleviate the problems with parking.”
But the leader of the opposition at the Guildhall, Councillor Lee Mason (Lab, Brookside) argued the council was not doing enough to rent out the garages.
She said: “There’s clearly a demand out there but the council are obviously not meeting it.
“They’ve not got a grip on this whole situation.”
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Comments
There are 14 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
jimorourke
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 11:58 AMI used to be in charge of letting out all council garages and keeping empty garages to a minimum was my priority because this loses money for the council. So I am a bit dismayed to read that 1,000 garages are standing empty. This must be costing the Borough Council around £6000 a week in lost income. A decision should be made to sort this out immediately.
Finker
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 09:14 AMKL Most of the County Council's income doesn't come from Council tax. The cuts that mean the streetlights are off are not cuts in Council tax income. There is a good argument for having a single Council to make things simpler though.
lady muck
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 07:07 AMKL #10...it's 'government'...not intended to be understood !
Tony Clarke
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 10:48 PMKL, the situation is a little more complex. The Government actually pay NBC NCC and the Police Authority, but NBC as the Council Tax collection agency collects the council tax element for all free to pay back government that proportion of the spend. It is further complicated of course because of some NBC services which are currently farmed out to NCC and other other contractual arrangement each council has with other neighbouring councils, such as the Enterprise contract with NBC and Daventry District Council(bin collection and grass cutting) which is paid for by NBC and repaid to them after DDC has got its money from the government. Not to mention other joint budgeting knightmares. Another good reason for one council for Northampton!
KL
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 10:21 PMAlanpartridge No need i know we pay our council tax to NBC ...... they then pay part of it TO NCC ........So as a council tax payer i should get all the answers from whom i pay my money to. They then pay NCC which makes them a contractor...,,,,,,,, If you pay BT for your phone line british gas do not repair it ? Whoever you pay your money to should answer the questions .....Maybe you should check who you pay because you only pay NBC ... they then pay NCC .....
Alanpartridge
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 08:53 PMKL...NCC are Northamptonshire County Council who are responsible for Highways, which includes streetlights. Northampton Borough Council look after things like bin collections, council housing etc. One doesn't work for the other as they are separate organisations...best to check their websites if you're not sure who does what.
Finker
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 07:41 PMKL, I'm not surprised they don't talk to you. You can say whatever you like about how you think it works, it doesn't make it so.
KL
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 07:30 PMIf you ask about NBC about street lights they say talk to NCC I say I pay NBC and you pay NCC so i talk to NBC they will not talk about street lights far as i am concerned NCC is a contractor hired by NBC So why will the NBC answer questions . Dont get me talking about garages when people who need repairs wait far to long
Phil123
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 07:16 PMTo be fair CommonSense, TC asked for rental income, regenerating the sites of unwanted garages, building garages where people want them. Sounds pretty positive to me.
Tony Clarke
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 06:40 PMCommon sense, what glass houses? I still serve on NCC and they are no better than NBC, the problem with both councils is A) there's two of them in Northampton when there should be one and B) the cabinet system prevents experienced Cllrs and anyone other than a selected few getting involved in council business. The result is that opposition backbenchers are left with nothing to do but oppose and get frustrated when their opinions and ideas are ignored. All of these minor issues are easily resolved, but only if you let the people arable of finding the answers be involved themselves in finding and implementing the solutions. As for being personaly affective? I will let others judge that one.
Common sense
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 06:01 PMTony--people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones..be positive about what the town needs as that is what all Councillors should have at the heart of their purpose--parochial politics is exactly the reason Northampton is the way it has become--and very weak leadership---remember you are still in office (I think) and accounatble for what happens in Northampton whether you like it or not--I do hope you are effective as a Councillor and not just a mud slinger
Tony Clarke
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 05:33 PMSpeaks volumes about NBC really, moaning at having no money to repair garages whilst 1000 remain empty achieving no rental income! If the demand elsewhere is so great then why not build new garages to rent in places where people want them and use the new rent to ay for the build and support the wider budget? Or how about selling the land in areas where garages are not wanted and using that money for reprovision in areas of need. Is the Council really so inept that it can't even solve a simple supply and deand issue such as this? No doubt they will call in the consultants next to help them develop a strategic garage development plan? perhaps WNDC can help!
The Old Geezer
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 05:23 PM"But Councillor Markham warned that any further investment in the garages could be difficult as the authority struggled to save money." But there is enough for an Arts Collective, so you can not be struggling.
Common sense
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 05:04 PMSell the unpopular ones and get some cash in for NBC taxpayers
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