STROUD District Council is calling on the Government to change the way council house rent is collected and spent.

The request urges the Government to scrap the current system which forces councils to hand over a third of all annual rent.

Known as the Housing Revenue Account Subsidy, this is then redistributed back to councils in impoverished areas to spend on maintaining and improving housing stock.

In a letter to the Minister for the South West, Ben Bradshaw MP, SDC leader Cllr Chas Fellows said: “Our rent payers are effectively making a contribution to the Treasury equivalent to 18 out of 48 weeks rent.”

The letter goes on to say that scraping the system would allow SDC to pump an extra £6 million a year into building new affordable housing, and investing in its decent homes programme.

“This increased investment will generate jobs in key sectors of the local economy, particularly construction and green energy markets,” he said.

In a later chapter, Cllr Fellows also calls for more investment in older private housing to bring it up to the Government’s revised carbon and energy efficiency targets by 2050.

“By bringing forward expenditure, and linking it to apprenticeships and other skills initiatives, small builders could develop the capacity and skills needed to achieve the ambitious targets set by Government,” he said.

A spokesperson for Communities and Local Government said: "We are working with a wide range of experts and practitioners to find a way forward for council housing finance that is affordable and fair to all through our wide-ranging review of council housing finance, led jointly by Communities and Local Government and Treasury.

“Local Authorities, Tenants and other stakeholders throughout the housing sector have been involved throughout the review, which will report to Ministers in Spring 2009."