To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will authorise district councils to use funds accumulated from the sale of property to build houses and flats for sale or rent to the local community.

Our general policy is to encourage the private sector, including housing associations, rather than local authorities to be the providers of new houses and flats. Local authorities are free to use 25 per cent. of the receipts from the sale of council dwellings to assist this process in various ways, including sponsoring housing association developments.