星空传媒

John Prescott was in fine form at a breakfast briefing for housing journos on Tuesday. Perhaps he was looking forward to his rumoured upcoming appearance at the NHF鈥檚 annual conference; in any case, he was delighted to see that his favourite bacon sarnies were on the menu.

鈥淣o-one eating these bacon butties?鈥� he scolded the hungry hacks. 鈥淵ou wouldn鈥檛 get these in Buckingham Palace, you know!鈥� Does this mean Prezza frequently stops by for an early morning sizzler with Her Maj? I think we should be told.

Town and out

Housing鈥檚 best brains are hard at work trying to solve a number of dilemmas: how to make the case for the 鈥渇ourth way鈥�, how to get nuisance tenants to behave, what鈥檚 the big deal with colonic irrigation 鈥� and, of course, the Bacup question.

This Greater Manchester town rose to prominence after the publication of the Northern Way in February. A map of the areas covered by the strategy was produced. Bacup, though, was missed out and came to symbolise the row between northern councils about the scope of the study.

Luckily, the question has now been answered: lucky Bacup is part of the plan.

Going once 鈥� going twice 鈥�

On that note, I鈥檓 delighted to report that the initiative affectionately known as the Communities Plan for the North is already bearing fruit. In February, Treasury boffins calculated that the three northern regions would each have to generate an extra 拢35bn a year to hit the national average.

But at a Housing Today shindig in Manchester last Thursday Eamonn Boylan, deputy chief executive of the local city council, revealed that the same eggheads are now saying the gap鈥檚 down to 拢29.6bn.

And all this before the Northern Way taskforce has properly started work! If they carry on at this rate, the North/South divide will be eroded by Easter.

Everything but the kitchen sink

News has reached me that Elevate, the East Lancashire market renewal pathfinder, has been attracting interest from Hollywood.

Pathfinder head honcho Max Steinberg was approached by a film company scouting for locations in the region; it felt Burnley would be the perfect gritty backdrop for its realist drama. Concerned that Room at the Top wasn鈥檛 exactly the image he was after, Steinberg politely declined.

Sauce for the goose

Anti-transfer campaign group Defend Council Housing thinks councils spend far too much cash sending tenants to conferences about transfer, arm鈥檚-length management and the private finance initiative. So it鈥檚 come up with a solution.

It says councils should 鈥� send tenants to a conference. One run by Defend Council Housing, of course.