Norwich City Council 'disappointed' to sell flagship social homes

The energy-efficient homes were completed in Norwich in 2019

A city councillor has said it was "disappointing" that an authority may have to sell some of its new social housing stock.

Seven residents in Goldsmith Street, Norwich, want to buy their homes under the Right to Buy scheme.

The programme allows most council tenants to buy their house for at least a 35% discount.

Beth Jones, the deputy leader of Norwich City Council, said: "I think it has an incredibly damaging effect."

The estate won the Riba Stirling Prize for architecture in 2019

Goldsmith Street is a collection of ultra-low energy Passivhaus homes just outside Norwich city centre.

The social-housing development was built by the city council in 2019 and won the Riba Stirling Prize for architecture the same year.

The applications were revealed as part of a Freedom of Information request submitted to Norwich City Council by architecture magazine Dezeen.

But Right to Buy rules mean tenants can apply to buy their property if they have lived there for more than three years.

Beth Jones says it is 'disappointing' to lose social housing under the Right to Buy scheme

'A real challenge'

Ms Jones, the council's cabinet member for housing, said the authority was losing 140 homes a year through the current system.

"I can understand why people might want to try to buy them, but it's disappointing because we've got to invest in housing that's affordable for residents in the city," she said.

"It's a real challenge that makes it just that bit harder to meet that need for residents."

Norwich City Council says it is losing 140 social houses a year through the Right to Buy scheme

The national Labour Party has said it would keep the Right to Buy system if it was to win the next general election.

But the party said it would make it easier for councils to use cash from the sales to build new homes.

• Around 280 social homes have been sold off in Norwich through the programme in the past two years

• There are currently more than 4,000 people waiting for a council property in the city

In a statement, a spokesman for the Labour Party said: "Labour believes people who live in council houses should be able to buy their own home if they wish.

"But too many council homes have been sold and not replaced, which has fuelled the country's housing crisis.

"That's why the next Labour government will deliver the biggest boost to affordable, social and council housing for a generation."

A spokesman for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, said Right to Buy had helped more than two million social housing tenants to become homeowners since 1980.