Clause 11 - Use of capital receipts
Local Government Bill
8:55 am
Mr Desmond Swayne (New Forest West, Conservative)
Amendment No. 59, Mr. Griffiths. It has a certain simplicity and attraction. The difficulty that the members of the council face in disposing of the asset is that there is a political cost, because the occupants of the park do not want it to be sold. They would much rather that it be owned by the district council than by that unique breed, the owners of mobile home parks, who, as I am sure the Minister is aware, often lack the social and managerial skills required to make a success of them.
While the law is so stacked against the tenants, they do not want to be sold off by the district council, so there is a political penalty. The district council has to balance the question of selling the asset to generate revenue to provide housing against the political cost of the campaign mounted by the residents not to be sold off. If the district council will not retain any of the revenue for its own purposes, the motive for selling will disappear and councils will sit on such assets rather than lose control of them.