THE first council home to be built in Southend for a quarter of a century has been completed.

Southend Council has finished the construction of a three-bedroom house in Byron Avenue, Southend, to be used for social housing.

The home is the first in what the authority hopes will be a wave of new social housing in the borough, with the council looking to pilot building council homes on land it owns in Shoebury.

The plans, which were started by the previous Conservative administration, aim to ease the pressure on social housing in the borough, with around 1,400 people on the council house waiting list, as of April 2014.

Labour’s David Norman, Southend councillor responsible for housing, is pleased the home has been completed.

He said: “We are very pleased indeed to see this project completed and ready for its first tenants.

“It is the result of a review of council-owned land in the borough, as part of our commitment to provide affordable homes for residents.

“We have used this as a pilot scheme, so we hope it will be the first of many. We very much need to increase the borough’s stock of affordable housing.”

The authority is investing about £3million into developing a pocket of council-owned land in Shoebury, which could lead to about 13 to 27 new social homes being built in the borough.

It is understood a planning application will be submitted soon for that project, while two other sites in Shoebury could yield 33 extra homes.

The building will be done using housing revenue account cash, section 106 money, and right to buy sales.

The council is also investigating whether to start up its own housebuilding company, similar to Basildon Council.

Mr Norman added: “We are intending to start building more homes on council land in Shoebury later this year.

“In addition, we are now actively considering further sites for the building of council homes elsewhere in the borough.”

The authority is following in the footsteps of neighbouring Castle Point Council and Basildon Council, both of which have embarked on council housebuilding schemes.