Council leader criticises 'shocking' spending by Northampton Partnership Homes including expensive AGM
The leader of West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) has raised concerns over “shocking” spending by Northamptonshire Partnership Homes (NPH), as the decision was made last week to bring the service back in-house.
At a cabinet meeting on Tuesday November 11, the Reform UK administration approved a phased plan to bring the management of its social housing under its direct control, in response to ‘serious failings’ in how NPH was complying with home safety and quality standards.
Speaking about the mismanagement, WNC Leader Councillor Mark Arnull raised alarm about the organisation’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) held earlier this year, which he said was put on at a hotel with a buffet and cost a total of £1,100 from the authority’s Housing Revenue Account (HRA).
The HRA is a ring-fenced account that is dedicated entirely to a local council’s own housing stock, funded by income from rent, service charges, and sometimes borrowing. The funds are used for all costs associated with managing, maintaining, and improving council homes, such as repairs, loan charges, and management.
Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Arnull told the council chamber: “My administration is facing scrutiny and criticism of its own for its Doge work. There will be members pleased here tonight to hear that some of this has been undertaken and some of the findings are not that pleasing to the tenants who pay their rent to NPH to find out how some of that money’s being spent.
“I don’t take pleasure in communicating that. Before I say anything, I will make it absolutely clear that the staff at NPH are an absolute asset, but there are some issues about how things are being run and they’re going to need to be addressed very very soon.
“I wrote to the chief exec [of NPH, Steve Feast] back in September when I received an invitation to the AGM – an AGM at a hotel, an AGM that had a buffet for a 24-minute meeting that cost £1,100 paid out of the HRA, and further bookings on other venues, external.
“Who was looking at this before and how long has it been going on? I dread to imagine of how much money’s been spent, but it’s not acceptable to tell tenants that’s how their money is being spent.
“I hope the decision today being taken allows for a change of culture and, under WNC’s supervision, that we set a new culture and drive that forward and give our tenants absolute value for money because some of this is frankly shocking.”
The HRA revenue budget for 2025/26 was set at £67.4 million in February this year, and included an increase of 2.7 percent for residents’ housing rents, service charges and garage rents from April.
WNC advised that this would raise rent on average for tenants by £156.52 for the year. The council owns approximately 11,500 social houses, meaning it generated an estimated extra £1.8 million from the housing rent rises for 2025/26.
NPH has not issued any response to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) on the claims Cllr Arnull made about the cost of the AGM, buffet and bookings on other external venues.
At the meeting, cabinet members voted unanimously to close down NPH and bring the social housing responsibilities back under direct control by April 2027.