Council bosses admit they do not have enough money to meet their social housing target in a new development.

Three Rivers District Council has bought 21 additional homes for affordable housing – taking the total to 117 in the South Oxhey Initiative.

But Cllr Matthew Bedford, who is in charge of the council’s finances, says the authority does not have enough money to meet their target of providing 231 affordable homes.

Families will be able to buy a percentage of one of these 21 new homes under a shared ownership scheme.

He said: “I do not think the current level is acceptable. I do accept right now, we do not have the funds available to get the level up to what we want.

“We have already made a move in the right direction, with the addition of 21 new homes, so we are now up to 23 per cent. I am hopeful, over the course of the scheme, we will be able to find more funds that will get us closer to our original ambition.

"It is no secret we had hoped to meet the council’s planning guidelines for affordable housing.”

The council has been under pressure since the Watford Observer revealed there would be even less social homes on the estate once the redevelopment is complete.

To buy out all of the properties the council has first refusal on, it would cost the authority £8,030,000, but it has set aside just over £4 million.

If the £4million were to be spent, it would mean 33 per cent of the new homes would be affordable.

Cllr Stephen Cox, leader of the Three Rivers Labour Group, said: “Do you think 33 per cent is about right? Or is it too low? We all want the maximum amount of affordable housing, but tonight we learn that the administration is going for shared ownership option and I wondered if we could hear why?”

Developer Countryside Properties will make in excess of £20 million from the scheme.

Cllr Bedford added: “There has to be a balance between what is affordable, what is achievable and what we might want. I am not going to give a figure for a minimum or ceiling. We are looking to improve the current figure. We are at 117 units now and there are 63 we have first refusal on, so that takes us up to 180.

“The 45 per cent target would always have been a mix of social rent and shared ownership.

“There was never an expectation that they would all be rented.”