Council stacks up cash for major house building work

The authority has had to come up with a plan projecting as far as 30 years ahead to help point the direction for its housing policy and to keep finances on track.

Changes to legislation means that will inevitably change over the years, but a council report suggests the council may be in a position to put £105m into new housing projects over the next five years, with a combination of money coming from the rents it collects and grants from elsewhere.

The council has more than 20,000 homes, along with other properties, which currently generate almost £82m a year in income, though that has to be used to maintain the properties in good order before any surpluses can be used for other projects.

The council has been working in recent years to kick-start house building to boost the amount of social housing available in the town and has become one of the country’s most productive councils in terms of generating new housing.

Part of the reason the authority can invest so heavily in the next few years is that it has strong levels of cash reserves, with plans to sell some of the houses which get developed on the private market.