TWENTY councils have bid to share in £600m of government cash through round three of the housing private finance initiative scheme.
This makes it the most heavily subscribed round so far, despite continuing problems with existing housing PFI projects: more than four years after the process began, only four have signed deals.

The deadline for initial expressions of interest in bidding for third-round funding was 18 December, with £600m in PFI credits up for grabs for councils.

Leeds Council and West Wiltshire Council are the only two to confirm their bid so far.

Carmel Cook, service standards manager for PFI at Leeds council, said: "We have put in an expression of interest and are waiting for the outcome."

The bid is for just over 2000 homes in Holbeck and comes despite concerns over Leeds' existing round one PFI scheme in Swarcliffe, reported by Housing Today last week (9 January, page 14).

West Wiltshire has bid for credits to fund the construction of 500 homes in Trowbridge.

The ODPM will not reveal who else has applied, saying only that it had a "healthy response".

The number of bids has led to concern that not all councils will qualify: just eight local authorities were chosen in 1999 for round one PFI schemes and a further 18 were chosen in round two.

Richard Parker, director of housing public private partnerships at consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers said: "We understand that around 20 bids for PFI credits were submitted and that a number of these exceeded £100m.

"This is a good size but demand for credits is likely to exceed supply and a number of councils might be disappointed."

Source

Housing Today