Sutton builds first council houses in 30 years

The London Borough of Sutton has completed its first programme of new council house building for 30 years.

In total, Sutton has built 93 new homes. 15 houses were finished in October last year, and now 21 new houses and 57 new flats are ready for people to move in to.

Councils have been freed up to borrow more to build homes since April after the government removed a cap on borrowing limits for housing.

The council also used money raised from right-to-buy sales, and the balance will be repaid from future rental income from the properties, which they say means that there is no impact on council tax.

Jayne McCoy, deputy leader of Sutton Council and chair of the housing, economy & business committee said: ‘Our key objective has been to focus on quality for these new homes, as we believe that all our residents deserve a good-quality place to live, improving their life chances, the local area and the wider urban environment.

‘We are investing significantly in the future of the borough. These are first-class homes we are proud of and they rightly set a high design benchmark for the private developers we seek to attract.’

In June, Liverpool City Council announced they will build new council houses for the first time in 30 years after the government said it does not need to repay the housing debt of £735m from the transfer of previous stock to housing associations in the late 2000s.

Yesterday, Middlesbrough Council announced plans to redevelop Middlesbrough town centre with new ‘large-scale’ social housing.

The projects were described as ‘transformative’ for Middlesbrough, while Middlesbrough’s mayor Andy Preston hailed the announcement as a ‘new era’ for town centre living.