SOUTHAMPTON and Hampshire are facing a “crisis” in the number of new affordable homes, a Labour council chief has claimed.

Warwick Payne has admitted that while he hoped to build 450 council homes in the regeneration of the Townhill Park estate the majority will instead be bought or rented on the private market.

He has blamed Government changes for reducing the amount of money available to councils and housing associations across the country – and says thousands of people on waiting lists in the South will now be waiting longer than ever for a home.

Three years after residents started to be moved out of the dilapidated Townhill Park estate a planning application for the £100m scheme to provide 675 homes has finally been handed in.

But he now says annual social rent cuts announced by Chancellor George Osborne could leave the council’s housing budget £493m worse off over 30 years and mean there are no council homes at all at Townhill Park.

Cllr Payne said the reduction in finances would mean that of the majority of the 675 properties planned for the site all but 236 would be bought and rented on the private market.

And he says he still hopes the council will be able to own some properties, those 236 affordable homes may instead be offered through shared ownership between residents and housing associations, or through discounts in the Government’s first-time buyer scheme.

Cllr Payne, pictured below, has insisted the Townhill Park project can and will be delivered and funding will be provided through the new development company, a commercial arm of the council being set up to borrow at cheaper rates.

Daily Echo: Warwick Payne

He says he is hoping that construction work could start at the end of next year or the beginning of 2017 and that the first homes could become available later that year.

He said: “The motive for wanting council houses at Townhill Park was that it made good economic sense for the council to do it, and if it is no longer possible for councils to deliver that housing then we must come up with an alternative delivery model.”

Cllr Payne also says the Government changes will lead to a “crisis” in social housing supply, adding: “Every resident in Hampshire who is currently waiting for an affordable home will have to wait a bit longer because of what the Conservatives have done to affordable housing.”

His Conservative opponents claim the figures are “wildly inaccurate” and have called for him to stand down over delays to Townhill Park and their concerns that there is not enough money for the scheme or other estate regeneration projects.

Council housing bosses in other areas of the county have also said they have concerns over the social housing rent changes.

Kay Mandry, Conservative housing chief at Fareham Borough Council, said she had written to party MPs Suella Fernandes and Caroline Dinenage over “concerns” about the loss of income but that she could not comment further until the final Government proposals were announced.