WINCHESTER City Council has approved plans to buy 146 new “affordable” homes on a new housing project for an undisclosed sum.

Civic chiefs rubber-stamped the purchase of the homes at a cabinet meeting on November 20. The properties are part of the 2,000-home Kings Barton estate currently being built by Cala Homes.

The council won the deal after a “bidding war” with other interested parties and has decided to keep the price of the housing confidential. But it will be many million pounds.

This is part of the council's plans to deliver 1,000 new homes by 2032.

READ MORE: Planning application for latest part Barton Farm due in the coming days

The cabinet meeting on November 20 (Image: WCC) The council intends to rent the accommodation under housing allowance rates, which currently range between £525 per month and £825 per month.

Councillors discussed concerns around the acquisition of the homes in depth at a scrutiny committee on Tuesday, November 12.

At this meeting, Green Party member Councillor Danny Lee expressed doubts that the quality of the buildings might not be up to scratch.

He said: “My concern is about how we manage the energy gap, the poor quality of build which probably would apply to these acquisitions. We know that standards out there in modern building are not to a very high standard.

"We already need to avoid buying buildings that suffer high-running costs for our occupants with higher carbon emissions for our district. So how do we assure […] we avoid the pitfalls if we don’t get this right?”

These issues were echoed by Conservative Councillor Caroline Horrill, who said: “We want to ensure the same build-quality for the homes that are sold as the houses that are being offered to the council as affordable. So can the council ensure that in this deal they are [of the same quality]?”

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Cabinet members reassured councillors that the buildings would be of high quality and that they would be distributed evenly throughout the Kings Barton estate.

Former city councillor Ian Tait said the council should not be using the 146 houses towards its 1,000-home target, but building its own homes rather than relying on developers who have to build affordable homes as part of the planning permission.

City council leader Martin Tod said: "I think residents need to know that this council takes the delivery of community facilities and infrastructure extremely seriously and we will continue to put what pressure we can on the process to ensure that it's delivered at pace and the standards that residents, and in future our tenants deserve, and it's certainly something I will take a personal interest in."

To give an idea of the money involved in the purchase, if the houses are being sold to the council at an average of £300,000 the council will pay well over £40 million.