The Gravesham Community Investment Partnership will identify locations and develop suitable sites for new council-owned homes.

This latest deal with a council builds on a similar partnership model founded in 2017 with Cambridge City Council.

This is now delivering 1,000 council homes over 10 years on council land alongside at least 700 homes for sale.

A similar investment partnership deal with Rushmore Borough Council is delivering town centre regenerations in Aldershot and Farnborough.

Cllr John Burden, Leader of Gravesham Borough Council, said “We have long-held ambitions to build hundreds of new council homes, in order to provide real social housing for those with demonstrable roots in Gravesham, thus reducing the number of people on our Housing Register.”

“However, we are a local council, and while we have succeeded in directly developing 200 new council-owned homes in the past four years, we recognise our limitations and the fact that bringing a specialist private sector house builder with investment, commercial, and financial expertise on board will greatly accelerate the progress we want to achieve.”

Andy Hill, group chief executive of The Hill Group, said: “We are proud to have formed an Investment Partnership with Gravesham Borough Council.

“Work now begins to identify suitable sites where we can apply our significant experience and expertise for the swift delivery of much-needed new homes for Gravesham.”

Recognising the need to tackle homelessness in the borough, Hill is donating eight purpose-built SoloHaus homes to the council.

These modular homes will be donated as a part of Hill’s Foundation 200 initiative. Launched to mark Hill’s 20^th anniversary, Foundation 200 is a £15m pledge to design and donate 200 modular homes to local authorities and homelessness charities by 2025.