Labour set to unveil plans for the biggest council house-building programme in a generation

LABOUR will next week unveil plans to launch the biggest council house-building programme in a generation.

They aim to provide an extra 3,000 homes a year at knock-down prices by reinvesting cash from the right-to-buy scheme.

A future Labour government will force town halls to spend all money from sales on existing council homes on building new ones.

Last year, 1,730 new homes were built by local authorities – but the £220million raked in from sales was enough for almost twice that number.

Shadow housing secretary John Healey is convinced the move will broaden his party’s appeal to families hit by the homes shortage.

Around 70 per cent of Tory voters wants more council houses built, according to a Survation poll.

Mr Healey told The Sun on Sunday: “Labour will kickstart council house building after years of Tory inaction.

“The truth is we can’t build the homes the country needs without councils doing much more.

“Labour in government will launch the biggest council housebuilding programme in over 30 years to build the affordable homes families need.

“After eight-years of failure on housing under the Conservatives, we need a long-term plan to build housing for the many, with councils at the heart of it.”

Labour’s social housing review plan, Housing for The Many, calls for money handed to the Treasury from right-to-buy sales to be handed back to councils to build new ones.

The money would go into a one-off council housing Kickstart Fund.

Labour has vowed to lift the borrowing cap on councils to allow them to borrow against their existing housing stock to build new council houses.

Mr Healey says this could help provide 80,000 new council homes over five years.

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