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Dwelling Stock by Council Tax Band
2006

October 2007

The dwelling stock information contained in this Research Monitor is derived from the (External) Valuation Office Agency and the (External) Department for Communities and Local Government . It provides information on the number of domestic properties and their distribution across the eight standard council tax bands A to H.

In total, the dataset covers just under 23.1 million dwellings in England and Wales as at 31 March 2006. The figures are broken down by council tax bands and are published down to small local 'Output Areas' across England and Wales.

Please note that the Research Monitor Archive contains earlier editions of this article.

Dwellings are classified as accommodation normally lived in by one or more people, and include houses, flats, bungalows and maisonettes. The precise definition that applies to this dataset is set out in the 1992 Local Government Finance Act. Each dwelling in England and Wales is assigned to one of eight bands as shown in the table.

Lancashire Results

Table 1 details the dwelling stock numbers for local authorities in Lancashire in 2001 and 2006. For England and Wales as a whole, the stock reached a level of just over 23.4 million in 2006, an increase of 3.68% over the figure for 2001. For the Lancashire NUTS-2 area (which includes the 12 districts and the two unitary authorities), the total of 636,610 dwellings was 3.13% higher than in 2001.

Blackpool Unitary Authority, with 67,934 dwellings, had the largest stock in Lancashire, whilst Ribble Valley recorded the lowest number with 24,367. Percentage changes over the five-year period reveal Burnley was the only area in Lancashire where the number of dwellings declined (-0.71%). The series of house price research monitors has over recent years charted the low levels of house prices in Burnley and other East Lancashire districts that have resulted, in part, from a glut of old terraced properties in the locality.

Of the 376 local authorities that cover the whole of England and Wales, only five recorded declines in their dwelling stock between 2001 and 2006. The fall in Burnley of -0.71% was the largest reduction, with Kingston-upon-Hull having the second lowest figure of -0.17%. The 0.85% increase in Blackburn with Darwen was the 12th lowest outcome, whilst Blackpool and Hyndburn were in 42nd and 44th places respectively.

In contrast, the two Central Lancashire districts of Chorley and South Ribble and the East Lancashire district of Ribble Valley recorded the largest percentage increases in the broader Lancashire area with figures of 5.57%, 6.03% and 5.02% respectively. In the national context, the increase for South Ribble placed it in 322nd position, whilst regionally only one other North West authority (Crewe and Nantwich) recorded a higher percentage increase over the period. Tower Hamlets in London's docklands and the City of London were the only two authorities to record increases in excess of 10%.

Research Monitors that track changes in employment levels and VAT business registrations reveal strong growth pressures in the two Central Lancashire districts of Chorley and South Ribble that correspond with the dwelling stock results.

Table 2 provides numbers and percentages in each council tax band for the 12 district authorities and two unitary authorities that form the Lancashire NUTS-2 area. Figures are also given for the various sub-Lancashire areas, for the Lancashire NUTS-3 area (which excludes the two unitary authorities), and for the North West and England and Wales.

The most striking aspect about the results in Table 2 is that the Lancashire NUTS-2 area has 40.60% of its dwellings classified in the lowest tax band A, a figure noticeably higher that the average for England and Wales of 24.71%. The high proportion of old terraced properties in the county, of which some are in relatively poor condition (see the Condition of Dwelling Stock Research Monitor ), results in high levels of tax band A properties. This is especially the case in the four East Lancashire authorities of Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle and Blackburn with Darwen, which all recorded over 60% of their dwellings classified in the cheapest band A category.

The percentage of band B properties in the Lancashire NUTS-2 area (19.67%) is on a par with the England and Wales average, but from band C onwards the percentages in Lancashire NUTS-2 fall noticeably below the norm for England and Wales.

There are significant variations at the local authority level; for example, an amalgamation of bands F to H accounts for 9.33% of properties in England and Wales as a whole, but in Ribble Valley District and Fylde the proportions are 16.66% and 10.88% respectively. In contrast, Burnley and Hyndburn recorded less than 1.3% of their dwellings in the top three bands.

Lower-Layer Super Output Area Analysis

The dwelling stock data are released down to the middle- and lower-layer super output area (LSOA) level. This Research Monitor uses the Lancashire results for lower-layer super output areas.

The three maps contain details of the percentage of dwellings in each Lancashire LSOA in bands A, B to D and E to H. In total, there are 940 LSOAs that cover the 14-authority Lancashire NUTS-2 area. Please note that at this small area level each of the three maps contains LSOAs that have no dwellings in that particular band(s). This is most apparent for bands E to H.

Map showing the percentage of houses in council tax band A in Lancashire's lower-layer super output areas - see text for details Source Valuation Office Agency, Department for Communities and Local Government

Figure 1 presents details of the percentage of dwellings in tax band A. High concentrations are apparent in all the major urban areas across the county, including East Lancashire with its high number of terraced properties. Other Lancashire towns such as Preston, Lancaster and Skelmersdale also have high percentages in the lower band. The latter is a former new town that does not have a legacy of old terraced houses.