When the Budget of St Albans City & District Council is discussed at the next Council meeting on Thursday 23rd February, the Liberal Democrat group will push for a freeze in council house rents, instead of the Conservatives’ proposed 8.3% increase.

The previous rules governing the amount that the Council can charge council tenants, which applied until recently, meant that the Council would have been penalised for variation from the formula set by Whitehall. These rules have been changed by the Coalition to allow greater local flexibility. While the Conservative administration at the District Council is content to accept the Whitehall-recommended guidelines for rent increases, local Lib Dems are convinced that there should be no rise at all next year.

Cllr Roger Axworthy, Lib Dem Council Resources Spokesperson, explained: “We are well aware that many household budgets are being squeezed at the moment. Many of our hard-pressed tenants could do with a financial break to help. This is especially true for those tenants who are working but who earn just too much to qualify for housing benefit. Our proposal to keep rents in 2012/13 at the same level as this financial year will be very good news for them – provided that we can get this agreed at the Council budget meeting next week.”