Two council leaders have called for Government to give local authorities greater powers to borrow money to build homes in their boroughs.

Cllr Fran Wilson of Maidstone Borough Council and Cllr Gerry Clarkson of Ashford Borough Council both backed calls by the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) for councils to be given greater financial freedom to help tackle the housing crisis and build social homes.

Ashford is already at the limit of what it can borrow to fund housing – known as the Housing Revenue Account – and has been given extensions to borrowing limits in the past by the Government to provide more homes

There are about 1,000 homes under construction in the borough at present.

Cllr Clarkson said: “I would very much welcome us being able to secure more funding for home building.

“We will be encouraging developers to build more homes, because we hope to be in the market to purchase several hundred for private letting over the next few years.”

Cllr Wilson echoed the sentiments.

She said: “We welcome the proposition put forward by the Federation of Master Builders to allow local authorities greater flexibility to borrow funds to build new social homes.

“Local authorities have an important role to play in meeting the ever growing need for affordable homes, both as a facilitator to external agencies and directly through their own building developments and initiatives.”

Brian Berry, chief executive of the FMB, said: “We simply aren’t building enough new homes to meet current demand, which is why we’re calling for the Chancellor to empower local authorities to borrow money to build thousands of new social homes.

“The gap between the number of homes we are building and the 250,000-a-year figure widely accepted to be necessary in order to address the housing shortfall remains significant.

“Local authorities, who are well placed to identify local housing needs, can play a critical role in financing an increase in housing output in a safe and sensible way.

“We currently spend £1 on house building for roughly every £4 spent on housing benefit. Investing in a longer term solution would therefore make sense even in more certain economic conditions.”

Several other Kent councils said they would consider the initiative.

Cllr Alan Ewart-James, cabinet member for housing at Shepway District Council, said the local authority recognised “an urgent need for more homes nationally” and was involved in a programme to build or buy up to 200 new council homes over the next 10 years.

“I would very much welcome us being able to secure more funding for home building...” - Cllr Gerry Clarkson, Ashford Borough Council

It has set up Oportunitas, a limited company, to refurbish existing homes and buy and develop new ones, which has bought 11 houses and one commercial unit so far. It also also brought 448 empty homes back into use under its No Use Empy programme.

Cllr Ewart-James added: “We recognise the value to these initiatives and would be happy to consider future initiatives to increase the supply of new homes locally.”

Steve Humphrey, director of planning, housing and environmental health at Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council, said: “The borough council is always interested in ways in which it can help to provide housing that is truly affordable.

“The current housing policy climate does not make that easy through the traditional routes that the council has followed successfully with housing associations as its partners.

“There are also has growing calls on the council’s decreasing resources, so we are bound to be looking at new ways of working and that includes how we use land and property assets and how we raise funds for the projects that are of most priority locally.

“That may include looking at ways to facilitate affordable housing provision in partnership with the private sector – we are at an early stage of considering what the council’s approach could be.”

Dover District Council spokesman Andy Steele said: “Dover District Council continues to work to enable housing growth for the future, however, we are not in a position to give a detailed comment on this particular proposal until we have more information.”

All other Kent councils declined to comment.