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Fri March 29 2024

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Axe falls on £1.9bn of PFI housing

23 Nov 10 Government funding support has been withdrawn for 13 PFI housing schemes, worth £1.9bn.

A further 13 housing schemes currently in procurement and worth more than £1.2bn will continue to be supported through the Private Finance Initiative during the next spending review period, but will be reviewed for value for money.

Twenty-five housing schemes under contract will also continue to be supported.

The decision was announced out in a letter to local authorities sent jointly by Richard McCarthy, director general for housing and planning at the Department for Communities & Local Government (DCLG) and Homes & Communities Agency (HCA) chief executive, Pat Ritchie.

According to the HCA, the go-ahead for half the schemes yet to be signed is good news, since given the DCLG's tight spending review settlement, it could have been much worse.

Pat Ritchie said: 'I am pleased that despite having to make some tough decisions following the Spending Review, DCLG is able to commit support for these housing PFI schemes which have the potential to make a real difference to local communities.

'At the HCA we will now concentrate on helping Local Authorities maximise the impact of available funding, through our expertise on procurement and other technical services.  We will also work with those councils which have received disappointing news today, to look at any ways in which their objectives might be supported through a non-PFI route.'

A full list of Housing PFI schemes in procurement and in the pipeline can be downloaded from the HCA website

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