Calls have been made for a council to tackle the housing crisis by purchasing properties of its own for the benefit of local people.

Weymouth and Portland Borough Council is being urged to take prompt action to tackle the shortage of affordable homes in the borough.

Cllr Kate Wheller hopes to get support for the move at a meeting tonight.

A notice of motion proposed by Cllr Wheller on behalf of the Labour Group states the council should “urgently” acquire a number of the houses currently being developed to offer them for rent or shared ownership.

The proposal has been put forward following concerns that the county is struggling to recruit and retain public sector workers, due to low salaries and a shortage of homes that young professionals can afford.

Cllr Wheller said: “All we do is talk about needing affordable housing, but we need to be seen to be doing something.

“Houses are being built, and my proposal is that instead of planning to build we go out and buy some of these houses.”

She added: “There are a number of options – either we create our own housing company and in effect, have local housing that we allocate and control, or go into partnership with a housing association.

“I’m tired of listening to people talk about the housing crisis. I hope that it will go to management committee and they will get on and do it.”

The motion is supported by nine other councillors in the Labour group.

However Cllr Gill Taylor, borough council spokesman for housing, thinks steps are already being taken to tackle the issue

She said: “I think it’s an interesting proposition but I will say that good work is being carried out and we’ve got awful lot of affordable housing coming into the borough at the moment.

“The way we get more affordable housing is to build.

“We need all types of housing. Yes, we need key worker houses but we also need houses for older people to downsize to. We need to look at where we can release bigger houses for people of that age group to move out of.”

Cllr Taylor is a key supporter of the Opening Doors campaign which aims to encourage the construction of a total of 20,000 more homes in the councils’ areas by 2033. The scheme was recently praised by West Dorset MP Oliver Letwin.

The notice of motion will be discussed by full council members at a meeting this evening.