HOUSING FINANCE

That this House welcomes the provisions in the Localism Bill to end central control and redistribution of council housing finance and to enable councils to manage their housing stock for the benefit of local residents; urges the Government to recognise that the maximum local freedom and control will be most conducive to councils' ability to maintain existing housing and provide new homes; and therefore calls on the Government to remove from the Bill any powers for controls on borrowing beyond the well-established and successful prudential code and to allow local authorities to keep 100 per cent. of right to buy receipts for reinvestment locally.