THE new leader of Allerdale council has promised to tackle the lack of affordable housing, as a new investigation revealed only 11 per cent of the homes built in the district last year are affordable.

Councillor Marion Fitzgerald’s comments come after the Times & Star revealed that of 425 new homes built in Allerdale in 2017-18, only 55 were affordable.

This is a drop from the previous year, when 25 per cent of affordable homes were delivered in new builds.

Coun Fitzgerald said: “The new executive is meeting with officers and partners to review all of the council’s policies, plans and initiatives.

“Housing is very high on our agenda, and we are very keen to do what we can to ensure we have appropriate housing to meet the needs of all our residents, including through affordable housing schemes.”

In February, the previous Labour administration announced it wanted to set up a council-owned housing company to provide affordable properties to rent and sell to those in need, as well as make money through full-price rentals and sales.

And now Coun Fitzgerald said her Independent-Conservative executive hopes to develop a business plan for that project in the next few months.

Allerdale council justified the drop in affordable homes delivered in the last financial year. A council spokesman said: “We believe that the affordable housing figures for 2016/17 include the Laureates development in Cockermouth where the developer concentrated on building the affordable units in that year, as well as the development in Keswick which was largely all social housing.”

In Allerdale, the council relies more and more on private developers for affordable homes. This is done through a section 106 agreement compelling the developer to build a percentage of affordable homes. This means the authority loses control of when the homes are built, as this depends on the private developer.

Allerdale has a policy of delivering 20 per cent of affordable homes in each new development of more than nine homes. However, developers have been known from time to time to apply to the council for a reduction in the number of affordable homes on viability grounds.

A council spokesman said: “Previously, housing providers (such as housing associations) in the main have delivered affordable housing. However, there has been a shift in this trend over the last five years, where we have seen private developers playing an active part in providing affordable housing.

“However, housing providers have more recently played a role in the delivery of new affordable homes in the Allerdale area. It is expected that during 2019-20 the council will see a similar trend. If all the on-going developments build their affordable provision, it is estimated that 88 affordable units will be completed.”