Council plan to double garage rent cost in Nuneaton and Bedworth branded 'daylight robbery'

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Letters have been sent out



Anger has erupted over Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council's rise in garage rent for non-council tenants. One resident said they received a letter from the Town Hall to say that their rent is due to rise from just over forty pounds per month to £80 per month.

The rise, which is more than 100 per cent, has been branded 'daylight robbery' and has left some questioning why it is so high.

CoventryLive approached the Town Hall about the rise and, in a statement, Councillor Clare Golby, cabinet member for housing and communities, explained that the decision behind the rise for non-tenants was made as a result of 'poor legacy decisions' at the local authority.

She said that while they understand it is a 'big jump', the rental for garages for non tenants had been left too low for too long, below where it should have been.

“As part of our budget deep dive into the borough council’s finances, we looked at all our fees and charges," the statement reads.

"We also carried out a benchmarking exercise where it became very obvious that our rental charges for garages let to non-tenants was significantly below where it should have been.

“I do understand that the increase is a big jump from what people have been paying, but unfortunately this is yet again as a result of long term, poor legacy decisions made by the previous leadership at the town hall.

“If there had been smaller adjustments and benchmarking over a number of years we wouldn’t have been left to make a bigger adjustment now. Tax payers have been left to subsidise private garage rentals for a very long time and that couldn’t continue.

“In the entire borough 587 garage rentals have been affected by bringing charges into line with the open market value. Our garage charges for council tenants are still low."

Councillor Sam Croft, cabinet member for finances, had previously explained that it was the 'toughest budget round that the council has faced in a generation' due to the impact of the pandemic, the Ukraine war, recession and inflation.

As a result he said that they had to come up with a budget that struck a 'critical balance' between boldness and prudence.