Greens deny U-turn over ‘fire-sale’ of Bristol council homes

The Greens have denied claims that they have made a major U-turn over plans for a “fire sale” of more than 1,200 Bristol council houses. The actual number will be just 14 in 2025/26, 28 in subsequent years and no more than 159 in total, despite a report to city councillors suggesting the proposals would see 1,222 homes, plus 700 non-residential properties, sold off.

Bristol City Council homes and housing delivery committee chairman Cllr Barry Parsons (Green, Easton) told the finance sub-committee that there had been “some misleading numbers circulating in the press” after an article used the figures published by the council a few days earlier. But he has now admitted the officers’ report to the meeting on Thursday, January 16, was “insufficient” because it made no mention of the much lower number of council houses proposed to be sold.

Afterwards, Labour claimed the ruling Green group had made a huge U-turn and said it would fight against the sale of any council buildings. The Greens hit back, denying any policy reversal and accusing opposition Labour of “weaponising a sensitive issue to spread fear”.

They say the previous Labour administration failed in its duty as a social landlord, resulting in a damning judgement from the Regulator of Social Housing last year ordering the authority to bring its homes up to basic standards. It means millions of pounds are now needed to do this from the council’s housing budget, called the housing revenue account (HRA), with the money having to come out of long-term investments and some scheduled work being delayed, such as installing sprinklers, or potentially abandoned, like council house-building projects.

The report to the sub-committee said: “The HRA currently has 700 non-residential properties (offices, shops, garages, open land etc) and 1,222 residential properties which are increasingly expensive to maintain and would generate significant capital receipts if sold. The capital receipts could be reinvested into delivery of new council homes or to invest in existing stock.”

Cllr Parsons told the sub-committee that the actual numbers were just “handfuls” and that the authority would develop a policy to oversee the sales. Cllr Rob Logan (Labour, Filwood) said afterwards: “Following pressure from Labour councillors and MPs, the Greens are now seemingly rowing back on their policy of selling off 1,222 council homes.

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“This is, and remains, the wrong policy for Bristol, a city that needs more affordable housing rather than less. The only people able to afford to buy these homes at auction are private landlords, who would let them out at extortionate rates.

“This U-turn is welcome news and will put the minds of council tenants and the 22,000-plus households on the social housing waiting list at ease. Sadly, the Green administration now claim they are intent on selling 42 homes over the next two years, with no clarity over what they plan to do in the future.

“Labour councillors will fight to stop their fire-sale and work to ensure they aren’t allowed to flog off a single council house.” Cllr Parsons said in response: “I recognise that the information shared with the public regarding the housing revenue account was insufficient and this will not happen again.

“However, there has been no U-turn. The option to dispose of a small number of council properties would only go forward under a disposals policy approved by members, and it is common practice for local authorities to have such a policy.

“The previous Labour administration blocked any disposal of council properties under any circumstances – even those that were uninhabitable, derelict, or served no housing purpose whatsoever. This has resulted in significant expense as we’re holding on to currently uninhabitable void properties.

“The council has 1,222 residential and hundreds more non-residential properties identified that are in poor condition. Many of these are of course someone’s beloved home and it’s the council’s responsibility to bring them up to a decent standard.

“The service would never sell someone’s home from under them. Of the properties identified, officers are suggesting an option to dispose of up to 14 properties next year that are not fit to live in, currently unoccupied, and are too expensive to maintain.

“Any receipts from these disposals could be invested in acquiring homes or improving existing ones.” Cllr Parsons said his top priority was the urgent investment in existing council homes to make them safe and comfortable to live in following “years of neglect under Labour”.

He said: “Labour’s claims either demonstrate their inability to recognise their own failings, their incompetence when it comes to understanding council housing, or a political choice to weaponise a sensitive issue to spread fear. I am starting to think it might be all three.

“We also regret that Labour did not decide to fully participate in the committee system, and take up the offer to chair policy committees, where they could have had a role in overseeing housing in Bristol. Having seen the mess that they have left behind, I am unsurprised they have shirked their responsibility to council tenants for cheap headlines and to distance themselves from their failures.”