THE Prime Minister’s announcement that the government will lift the local government borrowing cap has been welcomed by Bournemouth council.

Councillor Robert Lawton, cabinet member for housing, said he was "really chuffed" with the news.

"We have been lobbying the government hard to raise the cap," he said. "Although we are one of the best councils in the country for delivering council housing, raising the cap will allow us to do more."

The borough recently acknowledged in a report that only 10 per cent of people on its housing register can expect to receive council housing due to "lack of supply".

Cllr Lawton has previously said one major challenge facing the borough is a shortage of land for building – the town being bordered by the sea, Christchurch, Poole and the South East Dorset Green Belt.

Meanwhile the latest figures show the council sold 30 council houses under the Right to Buy scheme between April 2016 to March 2017, up from just four five years earlier.

Stats covering the 12 months up to March 2017, from the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, show that 607 families and individuals in Bournemouth were placed in social and affordable housing, leaving 3,411 applicants on the housing list.

The council is currently working on a major affordable housing scheme in Princess Road, Westbourne, and has been purchasing property around the borough to be let via shorthold tenancy.

The council received a £388,000 grant from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government this summer, part of a £30 million national fund.

If the ministry considers the money has been used effectively, the borough is earmarked to receive a further £349k for 2019/20.

In her speech to the Conservative conference in Birmingham, Theresa May said next year's post-Brexit Spending Review will set out a programme of increased investment in public services, as a mark that a decade of cuts following the financial crash was coming to an end.

"Because you made sacrifices, there are better days ahead," she said.