By Gary Cooper

COUNCIL HOUSE building could be on the cards again for Angus in a bid to tackle lengthening waiting lists and homelessness.

Officials have been asked to design a scheme to provide accommodation with built-in safeguards to avoid it being sold-off at knock-down prices.

The idea is the brainchild of Angus housing convener Councillor Frank Ellis, who won the backing of his committee for the investigation into council-led development.

“I am looking for a model where we can build homes and protect that investment,” he explained.

“It is absolutely pointless in us building a house, perhaps a cottage costing £70,000, and having to sell it under right-to-buy for possibly £40,000.

“That is being foolhardy and incompetent with tenants’ money. For those remaining tenants to be left with the debt is unfair.

“It’s tenants’ money that will be used to build this.”

But Mr Ellis is not ruling out tenants being able to buy the properties if a suitable scheme is found.

“I don’t want to take away the opportunity for tenants to buy their homes, it is a good aspiration to have, but I think it should be at the value of the property rather than at a massive discount,” he continued.

“If it is at the value of the property, the tenant is still getting a good deal. If you buy a house on the open market, 99% of the time you have to offer over the value of the property.

“What we can then do is use that money to build elsewhere, so we are accelerating supply of houses for people who can buy them later on.”

Mr Ellis, like other councillors, regularly faces desperate pleas to be housed from people he represents but the council property portfolio is ever-shrinking as tenants buy their homes.

Since the legislation was passed, 6628 council houses in Angus, valued at nearly £177 million, have been sold.

The average discount to tenants was nearly 50%, meaning receipts to the authority came in at more than £88 million. Sales have left around 8500 council homes in the county.

“I have felt for some time that, with our waiting lists rising and more homeless people registering, we are going to have to grasp the nettle,” Councillor Ellis went on.

“As a councillor, every week I receive calls from people in tears and stressed out because of their housing need which, in turn, causes them health problems and other knock-on effects.”

Rocketing prices under the booming housing market means getting a foot on the property ladder has become even more difficult.

“In the Sidlaws area, the sale of houses has gone over the top,” the convener said. “Even to buy a piece of land, if there’s land available, will cost you a fortune. For young people and people on low incomes, they have no chance.

“I would like us as a council to be able to provide housing, not just white boxes, but houses that will stand the test of time and people will find desirable.”

Any scheme would supplement the work of housing associations.

A report is expected to be brought back to the committee in spring.