Council house building in England to get kickstart

Author: The Guardian - Jul 6, 2009

Council house building is to restart in earnest for the first time in almost 20 years in England with local authorities set to construct 139,000 homes over the next decade. Town halls have predicted that rule changes announced by ministers last week allowing them to retain rent from council housing and receipts from right-to-buy purchasers, rather than the money going to the Treasury, mean that building is set to return to levels not seen since 1990.

It will reverse a dramatic decline in council house building that began in the 1950s when local authorities built as many as 245,000 units a year and reshaped the nation's skyline with tower blocks and cottage-style brick terraces. In the 21st century as few as 130 council houses have been built each year.

"We could be on the verge of the biggest programme of council house building in a generation," said Matt Nicholls, housing spokesman for the Local Government Association, which represents English local authorities. "Councils haven't had the financial freedom to build new homes. They have not been able to keep the rent or money from the sale of homes and have not been able to borrow against their assets to build houses in the same way housing associations have."

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