Socail housing tenants will now have the opportunity to register for a newly-built home.

Slough Borough Council has announced plans for a new social lettings policy, which will enable access to brand new homes for people who have lived in council or housing association homes in Slough for at least 5 years.

They must also be in work, have a proven track record of being a good tenant with no evidence of anti-social behaviour or misuse of property, and they must also have no rent arrears for the past year.

The first homes to be let under the new lettings plan will be three three-bedroom and four four-bedroom houses in Twist Way and Rokesby Road, Britwell.

Neil Aves, assistant director of housing and environment, said: “The Britwell homes are just the first of many new builds we’re planning to offer to existing social housing tenants.” The new lettings policy ties in with a change to housing allocations in January 2014, which was implemented to relieve pressure on the housing waiting list by only accepting applciations from people who had lived in the borough for five or more years.

Councillor James Swindlehurst, deputy leader and commissioner for neighbourhoods and renewal, said: “We said when we launched our allocations policy that we wanted to reward good tenants - what better way to do it than to give them first refusal on a brand new council home?” Tenants should register their interest as soon as possible to avoid disappointment by completing an application form available online www.slough.gov.uk/housing/how-to-apply.aspx or by visiting MyCouncil, Landmark Place, Slough.