Theresa May’s pledge of £2billion towards social housing is not likely to help Kingston despite the borough’s problems, according to an academic.

The Prime Minister gave a speech at the Tory Party conference on Wednesday, October 4, announcing the funds would be available for councils to bid for.

Dr Peter Garside, a planning expert at Kingston University, said the money will likely go to other local authorities who would get more use from the money.

The cost of acquiring the land and the cost of development would be considered, he said, as well as the need for social housing in the borough.

Dr Garside said: “Kingston’s ability to access those funds would be quite limited. Although it does have a problem in terms of social housing, it’s not extreme enough to warrant priority status.

“You would get nothing for the money here, but even if you went to the council with the money they wouldn’t have the staff to deal with it.

“If the government asks local authorities to bid for and take responsibility for these schemes, how do they do that in practice? Councils have been stripped of their skill and expertise in this area and their capacity to take on that responsibility will take years to build back up.”

The £2billion investment is expected to fund 25,000 homes nationwide by 2022, an average of just 15 homes per year in each local authority with responsibility for housing.

Dr Garside said: “These proposals are a small drop in the ocean that don’t address the core problems and barriers in terms of changing planning legislation, making sure councils have the required skillset and capacity, tackling land values and releasing land through compulsory purchase orders or some other innovative mechanism where you can actually bring social housing sites forward - such as compulsory sales orders or community land auctions.”