A report from the Association of Retained Council Housing says that English councils will build up to 25,000 new homes in the next five years as a result of the freedoms that came with 2012’s self-financing revolution.

The new housing revenue account subsidy system, which enables local authorities in England to keep their rental income rather than pay it to government, has triggered the first major council building programmes for a generation.

There are various ways in which councils can facilitate new homes in their area. Partnering with and funding local housing associations would be one answer, although some councils have lost faith in associations’ ability to deliver.

Staff at a London borough told us that they cannot rely on housing associations to deliver the goods as they have been let down in the past. Housing associations, they say, “have really fallen down in terms of local accountability.”

This particular borough has taken the initiative and become the first London borough to secure private financing for the development of social housing, thanks to a partnership with some private property developers.

The problem in working with developers, and even housing associations, is that councils do not have control over the standards of their new homes and fear that corners could be cut to increase profits when budgets are capped.

The borough mentioned above has overcome this by entering into a partnering arrangement that sees the private and public elements working on equal terms, thus ensuring high quality can be delivered.

Of course, these models only work where the local authority can provide the land, but that is often something they have in plentiful supply.

In Wolverhampton, for instance, rather than pay for a seven-acre site, the city council is asking Kier Group to hand the new homes over to them.

Some councils are building new homes that are funded from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) through their Local Authority New Build Programme. In Birmingham, the council have set up Birmingham Municipal Housing Trust (BMHT), which is the council’s brand name for building new homes across the city.

It seems that authorities will need to better understand the value of true partnerships with developers and housing associations. They will have to consider a combination of ways to provide new homes in their area, which will include building for themselves once again.

Clearly authorities are driven by political ambition, and pressure is mounting in some areas for officers to get development going at all costs. But even the most modest garage sites require careful planning and preparation. It is important that councils do not plunge into development without any of the essential strategies, policies, procedures and viability assessments in place.

Additionally, commentators have expressed concerns that if councils are outsourcing development of new homes, they are not building up the necessary skills in-house. This will prevent them from mounting a building programme of their own, or learning how to properly manage their own stock.

At worst, they risk playing straight into the hands of those who say councils are not capable of building new homes and could easily shake councillors’ confidence in their development programme. They must be careful to retain full control over the homes that are built and also have in place the necessary controls and procedures to manage the whole process.

Keith Searle is development director at SDS, where he specialises in helping councils and housing associations build new homes.