HOUSING bosses have revealed radical plans to pump hundreds of millions of pounds into upgrading Bolton's council houses.

In what is being described as the biggest single project ever to have been launched in the town, £800m borrowed from the private sector would be used to bring the council's stock of 22,000 ailing properties up to 21st century standards.

Under the new proposals the council would establish a separate organisation to take control of its housing stock -- known as the Community Regeneration Company (CRC).

The council would lease its properties to the CRC over a 35 year period and the company would take over complete responsibility for them. The non-profit making CRC, which would have charitable status, would then be free of borrowing restrictions which apply to local authorities enabling them to take out massive loans to fund repairs and environmental improvements.

The loans would be repaid from revenue generated through council house rents. Experts have forecast this could be done within the 35 year life of the CRC.

Under the proposed system, new tenants would pay 20 per cent more rent than the £40.85p per week existing tenants pay. But the council says by 2010 rents will be equalised for all tenants.

Councillors and housing officers believe the scheme is unique to Bolton after being developed and refined over the last three years. Officers looked at existing Government proposals for the future funding of public housing and believe they have created a realistic alternative.

While it would be a separate entity, a third of the CRC's management board would be council members, another third would consist of tenants and the remainder "independent members" drawn from the business community for their expertise.

Council bosses say the "lease-lend" scheme would also secure hundreds of construction and manufacturing jobs as the repairs and improvement programme gets under way.

Improvements

The council currently owes £114m to the Government which it has borrowed for housing. This figure is rising by £10m a year.

Up-to-date estimates suggest that £150m is now needed to fund immediate repairs to council properties with a total investment of almost £800m over the next 30 years.

The lease-lend scheme would enable the council to fund immediate and long term improvements without the housing stock falling into the hands of the private sector and because of the extra money, would emerge from the lease period debt-free.

Executive member for housing, Cllr Noel Spencer, said: "It is a project which we believe can make a huge difference in Bolton by gradually providing thousands of people with much better standards of accommodation and creating better standards of accommodation and creating better environments for people to live in.

"It is a huge long-term project but it is achievable. We have already carried out a lot of improvement work to homes and neighbourhoods but it is limited by the funds that are available. With more money available we can do the job people want and deserve."

The plans have already received support from all parties on Bolton Council and backed by residents' associations. It is one of six options open to the council for the future management of council housing which also included retention of stock by the council and large scale privatisation.

Council chiefs now have to "sell" their pioneering project to officials within John Prescott's Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR) if the project is to succeed.

If the Government gives the go-ahead the council will then embark on wide scale consultation with individual tenants which will eventually culminate in a ballot of council residents who will have the final say on whether the CRC is accepted.

If all goes according to plan the council hopes the new organisation would come into being by 2003.

Cllr Spencer added: "The money is there if we can persuade the Government to let the model go ahead and if the tenants want it. However, even though this saves them money, this could still be a major hurdle for the Government. It is new thinking and we have to sell it to them."