A VETERAN Labour councillor has expressed his concerns over possible rent hikes for residents in sheltered accommodation and flats through massive increases in service charges.
Cllr Gerard Rice (Lab) made his feelings plain in his capacity as the chair of the Housing Committee on Thurrock Council.
His colleague, cllr Jane Pothecary also stated that she found it very worrying and compared the increases that could be a such as £15 per week as “similar to the poll tax”.
The full discussion can be found from around the 30th minute of the audio below.
Umm? Floundering here a bit. So what amount is the £15 an increase on on. How many people does it apply to, and what percentage of those will actually have to pay the service charge themselves. “Massive”, doesn’t really help much.
OK, right. I listened to the recording and what I heard was that only new sheltered housing tenants pay an £8 service charge. This proposal would introduce a £15 service charge to all sheltered housing tenants.
I liked the person saying that “I can see the headlines now.” So we should review, revisit this before the next meeting in February. As best as I could make it out, that was agreed?