A £900m package to insulate people’s lofts, give sub-standard homes new bathrooms and kitchens and repair crumbling council homes was announced by the Chancellor yesterday.

Extra help was also offered to those at risk of losing their homes by bringing forward a £200m mortgage rescue scheme.

But housing organisations and private developers were disappointed that Alistair Darling failed to pledge a multibillion-pound programme of social housing to help the four million on council house waiting lists.

Instead, Mr Darling’s cash was aimed primarily at getting the construction and building industry back to work with hundreds of smaller and medium-sized projects

The Times, Daily Telegraph