Birmingham Council plans to build up to 500 new council homes a year in the City.
New proposals announced by Housing Minister Margaret Beckett will let councils keep all the rental income from any homes they build, as well as keep the receipts from any of those homes which are later sold through Right to Buy.
Councils currently only build a few hundred council homes a year, with the majority of new social homes being built by registered social landlords. Margaret Beckett said she wanted local authorities to play a bigger role in the delivery of council housing and invited councils interested in building more homes to discuss their ideas with the Homes and Communities Agency.
Renowned for its innovative approach to housing provision, Birmingham is one of the first local authorities to demonstrate its commitment to building new council housing by turning 100 acres of brownfield land into affordable homes.
Head of housing Councillor Lines, however, insists Birmingham City Council is not going to wait for the Government to complete its consultation on the propsoals as it wants to act straight away.
In an interview with the Birmingham Mail, Councillor Lines said:
"We are rolling back the years. We need hundreds, if not thousands of new homes, to satisfy the demand and needs of our citizens.
"We have had enough of talking about it, consultation papers and conversations. We cannot wait for the Government. With them the cheque is always in the post. So Birmingham will go it alone.
"A century ago Birmingham led the way in council housing and we will do so again."
According to the newspaper, plans have been drawn up for a Birmingham Municipal Housing Trust to run the project and manage the homes.
As economic uncertainty and turmoil in the housing market continues to bite, a £1.2 billion regeneration scheme in Leeds is receiving multi-million pound support to help it weather the storm.
Leeds City Council prioritised investment in the EASEL (East and South East Leeds) regeneration programme's current housebuilding schemes, investing more than £2 million to buy new houses and make sure they are available to residents under a range of affordable options to help meet demand.
The moves came just a week after the start of the Leeds: The Housing City campaign, which saw Council leaders declare that providing affordable housing will be a top priority for Leeds.
The Council's moves are intended to aid Bellway, EASEL's developer partner, to complete around 50 homes this year. This will include immediate investment of £2 million to buy new houses in the EASEL area, which will help the Council meet the demand for affordable homes.
The EASEL Regeneration team will continue to contribute ideas and technical support to Leeds City Council’s negotiations with the newly formed Housing and Communities Agency in consideration of further flexibilities they might extend to help ride out the current situation and continue to deliver affordable housing targets.
Harmony, a new development of smart contemporary apartments in Isleworth, West London was launched for sale by Inspace Homes, the private development arm of the Willmott Dixon Group.
Located on Twickenham Road, on land formerly owned by the adjacent West Middlesex University Hospital, Harmony comprises 280 one, two and three-bedroom apartments, housed in low-rise buildings that are separated by areas of attractive landscaping. Many of the apartments have glazed balconies or terraces and a number of surface and under-croft parking spaces are available.
Harmony is a joint venture between Inspace Homes and Notting Hill Housing Group and is the largest scheme to date under the Key London Alliance, a consortium of housing associations and developers set up to provide quality housing at affordable prices.
106 of the homes are for private sale by Inspace Homes, at prices starting from £205,000. The remainder are being offered through Notting Hill Housing, either for shared ownership under the Government's New Build HomeBuy scheme or for key workers via the London-Wide Initiative, a Government-backed scheme managed by the Homes and Communities Agency.
Harmony enjoys a superb location within London's Heathrow Quarter. Central London is just ten miles away and it is a 15-minute drive to London Heathrow.
The development meets the Code for Sustainable Homes Level 3 standard and will include biomass boiler power heating and hot water to all the homes. With this and the enhanced thermal performance of the building fabric, it is estimated that the homes will be 25% more energy efficient than required by current building regulations. In keeping with Harmony's green credentials, every apartment comes with an allocated bike space and a Car Club will also be launched.