The recent £10m award from the Housing Corporation to provide more affordable homes in Tandridge, over the next three years, will enable the council to work closely with its housing association partners to deliver almost 200 high-quality homes, for rent or purchase, at a reasonable cost.

Despite this excellent news, the private housing market is slowing down, and housing associations cannot meet the overall demand for affordable homes.

So why can't the council build homes itself? Basically, the answer lies in the housing revenue account housing subsidy system, which forces councils which retain their housing stock to hand over a large share of the rent they collect from their tenants and pay it into a government pot.

Tandridge's 2,686 tenants pay £10.3m a year in rent, but £3.5m of this is taken by the Government.

Tenants and professionals have been arguing for changes to the subsidy regime, which is widely acknowledged as unclear and ineffective, and finally, this year, the Government launched a review of the system.

Richard Woodward, director of community services says: ‘We don't know what the outcome of the review will be, but it is clear that nationally, over one million tenants want to remain tenants of their local council.

‘We desperately need a better funding system to enable local councils to help meet the national housing affordability crisis, and to ensure homes are made decent.

But, for too long, the contribution of councils whose tenants have voted for them to retain their stock has not been recognised, and they have not had a level playing field in terms of funding.

I hope the Government will recognise that local authority housing works.'

Chairman of Tandridge DC's housing committee, Cllr Matthew Groves, says: ‘Three years ago, 92% of our tenants opted to remain with the council rather than have the stock transferred to a housing association.

‘They also made it clear that providing more affordable housing locally was a high priority.

‘I would like the Government to take account of these views, which I know are shared by many other council tenants across the country. Tandridge, like many other local authorities, is not asking for favours.

‘We are asking for what is right – which means a fairer finance system that works for all those people who want to remain with stock-retained authorities.' 

Stephen Weigel is chief executive of Tandridge BC