UP to £1million will be spent on building new council houses in South Holland this year.
It is hoped that work could begin as early as this summer on new developments, which will help ease the district’s seven-year waiting list for a council home and create work for local building firms.
South Holland District Council will receive the cash for the 2012/13 year as a result of a new scheme which means it will receive all proceeds of the rent for its existing 4,000 homes instead of paying a quarter of that income to the Government.
The extra income equals £1million for this year, but will continue to grow in future years as rental income is added from the new homes built with the money.
But the council will be forced to borrow somewhere between £67million and £73million for the privilege, although the Government is offering a “one-day sale” on the loan at an attractive rate.
Council leader Gary Porter said: “This is good news but it could have been better if the Government had just given us the council houses instead of insisting on us borrowing this money.
“But it means we will receive an extra £1million in the first year which will be spent locally rather than nationally, which is always good news.
“Hopefully we will be able to build up to 15 homes around the district this year, which means 15 more families on the 1,600-strong waiting list will be able to move into permanent accommodation.
“It will also mean more jobs for local builders as we will do as much as we can legally do to make sure local builders get the work.
“Obviously all developments will go out to tender but we will do all we can in favour of those locally who are prepared to give us a good price.”
Coun Porter hopes plans for the first development will be ready by April or May, with work beginning on digging out the footings by summer.