More than 13,000 new homes were delivered by local authorities last year, town planners have calculated – the highest number since 1990.

Drawing on figures supplied by 83 English councils, the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) identified at least 9,000 homes directly created by councils in England in 2017/18.

Figures published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government suggest that the previous high for local authority housebuilding was 14,020 homes in 1990.

The RTPI study also found that much of this building activity has been delivered through companies wholly or jointly owned by councils, with 78% of local authorities now owning a housing or property company.

Of those councils without a housing company, one in five are considering establishing one.