264 Sold Through Right to Buy and Zero Replaced

A local authority has been slammed by the government for not replacing a single property of the 264 homes sold under the Right to Buy scheme.  The response by the CLG came after Labour's London Assembly member for Waltham Forest, Jennette Arnold, accused the Treasury of "betrayal" for pocketing £86.7m of £412.7m raised by London councils through the council-home buying scheme. Housing minister Brandon Lewis revealed the figures in a letter to London-wide assembly member Tom Copley. He argued a proportion of income from Right to Buy sales continues to be paid to the Treasury as part of £862m owed by local authorities through a self-financing settlement introduced in 2012. Despite this agreement, Ms Arnold called on the government to pay it back and said the £87m shortfall was "contributing to a disturbing housing situation" in Waltham Forest.  Read more on the Waltham Forest Guardian.