Plans to help tackle housing shortages in West Dorset by building a mix of new homes have been given the green light.

Members of West Dorset District Council’s strategy committee approved a recommendation to set up a Local Authority Trading Company with initial funding of £4m from council reserves.

It comes 25 years after the district council transferred its housing stock to the then West Dorset Housing Association in 1993 (now Magna).

The council recognises that although housing associations do a great service the area still needs more housing provision with 1,572 people on the council’s Housing Register.

The £4m funding will be used to operate the business, acquire sites and fund development.

Properties to be made available will include open market sale, shared ownership sale, open market rent and affordable/social for rent.

The move is part of the council’s Opening Doors campaign to to meet housing need at a local level.

The campaign aims to encourage the construction of a total of 20,000 good quality homes of all tenures by 2033 across the areas covered by West Dorset District Council, North Dorset District Council and West Dorset District Council.

The new Local Authority Trading Company will:

• Target areas of need that are not currently being served by the locally based developers

• Work with community land trusts to deliver smaller sites

• Acquire new land as well as developing the council’s own

• Acquire sites that have been granted planning consent for housing but not brought forward

• Work with other developers and housing associations where its involvement can unlock development that would otherwise have not taken place

Cllr Tim Yarker said: “We are determined to do everything in our power at a local level to tackle housing shortages.

“More good quality homes of all tenures are absolutely vital for the future of our communities and strength of our local economy.

“A Local Authority Trading Company will give us a degree of greater control over the tenure and location of housing developments whilst also offering significant potential to help ameliorate housing shortages.

“In addition to increasing the supply of housing locally, receipts from the sale of properties and rents would create revenue streams that in the longer term could be reinvested in further housing provision.”

Cllr Yarker added: “Opening Doors is about the council being proactive to tackle housing problems.

“We are one of a number of councils nationwide taking such an innovative approach and establishing a Local Authority Trading Company could be one of the most important steps we take.”

The council aims to develop the homes using local labour which could help create more jobs and a boost for the local economy.

A Home Ownership Register to gauge need for different types of homes and in what areas, and feed information to prospective buyers has also been created.

For more details and to sign the register visit openingdoorsdorset.co.uk.