More than 17,000 Hammersmith council homes will have been modernised by March, thanks to funding from the last Labour government’s £230 million Decent Homes programme.
The project has been run by H&F Homes, an arms-length body specially set up. This is headed by Nick Johnson, who is also H&F Council’s interim Housing Director. Regular readers of this blog will recall that Mr Johnson was recently named Retiree of the Year in Private Eye's Rotten Boroughs Awards. Tory H&F Council has paid him around £700,000 for his services in the three years since Bexley Council allowed him to retire early with a £50,000 pension on grounds of permanent ill health.
Now that this valuable, Labour-funded scheme has come to an end, Councillor Lucy Ivimy, Cabinet Member for Housing, plans to merge H&F Homes back into the council, saying “There is no need for a separate company with two sets of running costs”.
Presumably, there will be no need for her to pay Mr Johnson quite so much, then, will there?
Indeed, now that we understand a new Director of Housing and Regeneration, Melbourne Barrett, has been appointed, presumably Mr Johnson’s dealings with the council will shortly be coming to an end. Watch this space.
2 comments:
It wasn't Labour funded it was taxpayer funded! You seem to have some bizarre notions of a generous Labour government and a stingy Tory one. It is our money in both cases!
Yes, of course it's our money. But it was spent on housing by a Labour government and 17,000 Hammersmith homes are better to live in as a result.
Post a Comment