Rocketing house prices and rents have led to Sutton Council asking for central Government to devolve more funding and powers to local authorities.

The call was made during a meeting of the borough's full council meeting on Monday, January 19, although further pleas to release more publicly owned land for housing was criticised as grandstanding in light of previous borough land sales such as the Brighton Road Car Park and The Lodge in order to fill the council's coffers rather than housing quotas.

The motion, forwarded by Councillor Jayne McCoy, aims to deliver affordable housing to the people of Sutton by using £30m of housing revenue allocation to build 140 new homes.

Coun McCoy opened the motion, that noted the widening gap between the rich and the poor and how it has made owning homes an impossible dream for many.

This was backed up by figures showing 50 per cent of those on housing benefit in the borough were in work.

Coun McCoy said: "You need to have public investment in housing and if central Government won't do it," we will, she added "We're taking matters into our own hands.

"Central Government can only offer one sized fits all."

The council has created a subsidiary limited company with all shares owned by Sutton Council. This new company will be used to build homes in the borough to help those most in need of accommodation and who have been priced out of the market.

Amid all the celebratory speeches about how good this would be for Sutton came a word of caution from Tim Crowley, leader of the Conservative opposition group.

He said large-scale expenditure projects undertaken by the borough had flopped in the past and that it may be more prudent to tender out the £30m to experts in the housing development field, a sentiment echoed by his deputy leader Tony Shields who warned of creating another level of local government where money would be diverted from building houses and into a new directorate.

Coun Crowley said: "In April 2009 we debated whether the Life Centre should be built.

"Many here weren't here then, many here spoke about the business case.

He added: "We were told that the business case for the Sutton Life Centre was 'robust'", adding that any fears raised about the project raised at the time was "scaremongering".

He said: "We were told we know the cost of everything and the value of nothing."

The future of the life centre will now be determined by an external review.

Following a lengthy debate, which featured a number of maiden speeches from councillors, the motion was unanimously carried.