Government Office for London steps in to boost decency efforts …

The office has called in housing consultant Barry Simons to study the plans of those councils most at risk of missing the target, and to assess whether the dire warnings made in private by some boroughs have a basis in fact.

Simons, who was due to complete his work last Wednesday, has previously been director of housing for three London boroughs – Hammersmith & Fulham, Newham and Brent.

He said: "The government office's aim is to look at those authorities that are having difficulty in meeting the target, validate the information they base that assessment on, and then try to help them.

"The government office can't help with the resources needed to meet the decent homes standard, but it can help an authority rethink the way it deals with it."

Simons added that authorities should consider combining the three approaches for meeting the target: stock transfer, the private finance initiative and arm's-length management.

He conceded, though, that some boroughs could be "absolutely right when they say they are facing serious risks of not meeting the decency standard".

The news came as a senior London housing source predicted that five councils would miss the target and another eight would have difficulty meeting it. The 13 are understood to include the inner-city boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Lambeth and Southwark.

The source also expressed fears about the funding powers of the regional housing boards.

He said uncertainty over their role was preventing councils from planning ahead and that regional boards would place control of housing resources in the hands of "faceless bureaucrats who take their orders from central government".

The Government Office for London has also asked the capital's 33 boroughs how their plans would be affected if they lost 30% of their current housing investment programme funding.

This could happen in 2004/5, when the London housing board takes over responsibility for allocating this 30%.

The government office can’t help with the resources needed to meet the target, but it can help a council rethink the way it deals with it

Barry Simons, consultant

For the next two years, 70% of council's HIP funding will be secure, but from 2006/07 onwards the regional housing board will control the entire funding pot.

… as Liverpool demands get-out clause

liverpool council wants a get-out clause from the decent homes target because it is in a low-demand pathfinder area.

The council is putting together a research paper to use as a lobbying tool.

An internal team is gathering evidence on the difficulties of bringing the council's 34,000 homes up to the decency standard by 2010.

The council's findings will be presented to ministers and other local authorities in November.

Flo Clucas, the council's cabinet member for housing, said pathfinder authorities should not have to spend limited resources on bringing homes up to the standard when they are earmarked for demolition.

She said there was a communications failure between different sections of the ODPM, adding: "I think people signed up to the decent homes standard in the belief they could do it, rather than with certainty. But looking at the stock condition survey and the way things are panning out – particularly in the pathfinder areas – we need to think again.

"We need to see what other areas can bring to the table and see if we can act together."

Clucas said a lack of skilled construction workers would cause Liverpool additional problems in meeting the standard.