Warrington Borough Council is proposing to lend £90 million to a housing association to fund the building of 1400 social and affordable homes over the next five years.

The proposed beneficiary is St Helens-based Helena Partnerships Ltd, one of the largest developers of affordable new homes in the North West.

Leader of Warrington Borough Council, Cllr Terry O'Neill, said that once the final technical issues had been addressed, “This will be one of those genuine win-win opportunities. This loan will help drive regeneration. It will stimulate house building and create jobs. It will bring much-needed affordable properties within reach of hundreds of families. It will help close the gap by bringing regeneration to some of our most deprived areas. And as a related benefit it will bring in much-needed income, which will help us to protect essential council services.

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"Warrington Borough Council has been one of the first local authorities to do this, but other councils are gradually starting to do the same. This is good news because there’s currently a shortage of long-term finance due to the banking crisis, and as a result the UK is building about 100,000 new homes a year fewer than we actually need.

"It's also good news for the local and regional economy in general, because every £1 spent on house building leads to £4 being spent in the wider economy."

(CD/MH)