Questions were raised over where the figure of 450 new council houses to be built in Swindon came from.

Both the leader of the Conservative group Councillor Gary Sumner and the chairman of the overview and scrutiny committee councillor Dale Heenan pressed cabinet member for housing councillor Janine Howarth on how many council houses for rent would be built as part of the Marlowe Avenue Masterplan.

The overall plan will see 1,100 houses built on the land near Swindon Rugby Club on Greenbridge Road, with the council announcing 450 of them would be flats and houses for social rent.

Cllr Sumner said: “It was in a press release and it was reported in the newspaper that there will be 400 to 450 'affordable' properties built in the next decade.

“I’ve read the masterplan and it doesn’t mention them. Can you tell me how you’ve arrived at that number? And where will they be built?”

Cllr Howarth said that the council properties would mainly be built on or near Marlowe Avenue, with the bulk of the houses built on Greenbridge Road being built by Swindon Rugby Club as part of a private property deal and not by the borough council.

Cllr Sumner pressed Cllr Howarth on where the masterplan documents said there would be 400-450 flats and houses for social rent as had been flagged to the media.

Cllr Heenan picked up on that point.

He said: “The masterplan says that 30 per cent of homes will be affordable, while 450 is 45 per cent, and that’s not in the masterplan itself. How confident are we of those kind of numbers? Thirty per cent of 1,100 is 330.”

The cabinet member for finance councillor Kevin Small said he would check with officers and clarify the figures.

A spokesman for the council told the Adver that the figure was derived from the report to cabinet recommending the masterplan for its approval.

Written by the outgoing director of Housing Mike Ash it says: “Overall, the plan sets out an opportunity for up to 1100 new Homes across the whole area including existing permissions. This includes a major social housing regeneration programme up to three times the size of the current and successful Queens Drive project. This will be the largest development of social housing in over 30 years.”

The Queens Drive project nearing completion will see 149 affordable houses and flats built on the site of the former George Gay Gardens site and adjacent blocks.