Great news! Waltham Forest Council has received £80 million from the sale of homes under the rejuvenated Right to Buy scheme that has been operating since 2012.

Not only does this mean that almost 700 households have been able to buy the home they live in at an affordable price, but that funding means that the council should be able to fund replacement of all those homes, with another 10 per cent on top.

Right to Buy receipts can fund up to 30 per cent of the cost of a new home and the council can then let that new home at an affordable rent. Even allowing for costs of maintenance and repair, that means the council can build new homes at £300,000 each with £100,000 of Right to Buy equity and £200,000 of borrowing from the Government, covered by the rent.

Families get to buy the home they live in. The council gets to build new, additional affordable homes. What’s not to like? Maybe the fact that Waltham Forest Council has only managed to build 251 new homes thus far is a little disappointing. But the money is there, so what are they waiting for?

Cllr John Moss

Conservative