A vanguard of 10 councils has been selected to co-design the new Council Housebuilding Support Service (CHoSS).

The CHoSS programme is backed by funding from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and aims to support the delivery of ‘high-quality, affordable council homes’ across the country.

The 10 chosen councils will benefit from ‘bespoke support’ tailored to local needs, such as online tools and training, expert insight and peer learning resources to ‘upskill their housebuilding teams’.

Five of the councils selected have Housing Revenue Accounts (HRAs): Cornwall Council, Eastbourne Borough Council, Newcastle City Council, Salford City Council and Southampton City Council.

The further five local authorities, including London Borough of Merton, Reigate and Banstead Borough Council, Rother District Council, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council and Wirral Council are councils without HRAs.

According to the Local Government Association (LGA), councils can register their interest in the service through the CHoSS webpage, and the full support offer will be accessible to every council in England later this year once the self-assessment tool is finalised.

Cllr Louise Gittins, Chair of the LGA, said: ‘This new programme comes at a critical time for local government. Councils want to do more to deliver the council houses their communities need, and this initiative will give them the tools, advice and support to do just that.

‘The CHoSS programme is a positive step forward in unlocking the potential of councils to drive local housing delivery at scale, and we are pleased to be working with Government on this shared ambition.’