PLANS for affordable housing worth £9m across Hambleton have been thrown into doubt following a new Government ruling to abolish funding.

The termination of the Local Authority Social Housing Grant (LASHG), announced by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott earlier this month, has sparked concern among local councillors and housing associations.

The LASHG, which has funded the development and adaptation of hundreds of homes district-wide over the past decade, will cease to exist from April 1.

The Government has put aside £175m, £50m and £5m respectively for the following three years to safeguard any schemes up and running.

However, Hambleton councillors are concerned that developments which the council had planned will not be safeguarded under the terms of this transitional period.

Steve Quartermain, the council's director of planning and environmental services, said: "It is not clear what these arrangement are during this transitional period. We have had to submit a scheme of work that we were hoping to have achieved over the next three years, which equates to £9m worth of projects.

"This lack of funding will have a significant and long-term effect on the council. It wants to provide affordable housing across the district, but implementing its policies will now be very difficult."

Over the past decade the LASHG has enabled more than 1,000 affordable homes to be provided across the district, as well as financing the adaptation of nearly 300 properties for disabled tenants.

At a meeting yesterday, Hambleton councillors approved a letter to be sent to the Deputy Prime Minister outlining their concerns about local property developments over the three- year period.

Housing Association Broadacres yesterday confirmed that it had two major development schemes with the council in the pipeline.

"This work may have to be aborted," said director of housing services Jill Hague. "We are considering still buying land and just holding on to it until we have enough funding to build the houses.

"This is going to affect all the people who were going to live in those two major developments and it may become difficult to provide housing that people can afford."