WINCHESTER councillors have raised concerns about the proposed sale of housing association properties.

The Government has announced that it wants to extend the Right to Buy to be paid for by selling the most expensive council houses.

With Winchester property amongst the most expensive in England that could threaten city council-owned homes.

Two notices of motion were put before Council, put in by Labour group leader Janet Berry and Liberal Democrat councillor Martin Tod.

Cllr Tod's motion "noted with alarm the shortage of affordable rented homes in Winchester and is very concerned that the proposed Government plans risk making matters worse."

Cllr Berry's said the proposal would "strip the council of its ability to manage it own housing stock, making it harder for people on lower incomes... and increasing the chances of of families spending time in temporary accommodation."

She said she was worried new homes could be sold instead of going to people in housing need.

Cllr Jamie Scott said he was worried that council houses could be sold to private landlords. His ward includes Stanmore which has seen scores of former council homes now in private hands and let to students.

The motions were referred back to the next meeting of cabinet.

Cllr Tod said he wanted to highlight the problem of losing social housing when there are over 2,000 people on the waiting list.

He said there was a basic unfairness that councils that still owned house could be forced to pay for a scheme that mostly benefits communities in council areas that don't. Cllr Tod highlighted the comparison between Test Valley and Winchester. Both have a very similar amount of social housing in total, but Test Valley has 7,270 housing association houses and Winchester has 5,000 council houses and 2,460 housing association houses.

So Winchester could be forced to sell off family homes to private landlords in order to fund right-to-buy in Test Valley and other parts of the country, said Cllr Tod.