Proposals for a private company that could bring a £50m boost to housing in a borough were agreed last night.

At Hertsmere Borough Council’s full council meeting on Wednesday, members unanimously agreed to recommendations to create Hertsmere Developments Limited, a new company which could go some way to finding suitable housing for an ever growing housing list.

The £50m will come from public assets and loans, however, councillors stress the £50m figure is the maximum that will be spent and no more than £10m will be spent in each year.

Plans to bring HDL to the table have taken nearly three years but it was finally agreed at a three-and-a-half hour meeting at the council’s civic offices in Borehamwood.

Decisions on where money may be spent on future development will be decided by the council’s Executive board and will not come to full council.

Leader of Hertsmere Borough Council, Cllr Morris Bright, proposed an amendment to the recommendation to pass HDL. 

It said that a cross-party panel would be established to look at the governance of HDL, which at the moment is controlled by Conservative councillors.

The panel, which will be decided by Cllr Bright, will report back to the Executive before the end of 2018 so a report can be taken to the first full council meeting of 2019. The amendment was welcomed by Labour leader Cllr Jeremy Newmark who called for his party's representation in HDL.

Chairman of HDL, Cllr John Graham says he will step down from one of his roles as chairman or finance or property portfolio holder as soon as any money is exchanged. Cllr Graham did not vote nor did any of the directors of HDL.

He said: “HDL is a start-up company and we have to be prudent about how we move forward.”

Cllr Morris Bright added: “We are building for the future here. We are building much-needed homes for Hertsmere.”

The meeting ended at 10pm to the dismay of Labour councillors who were hoping to discuss their motion which could force TV and film companies who want to use Elstree Film Studios to commit to pay equality between male and female actors.

Cllr Jeremy Newmark also felt aggrieved that he was unable to discuss the ongoing problems with Govia Thameslink as well as results of a residents survey.

Read more: Hertsmere set to create company which could provide affordable housing boost