PLANS to find “creative” ways of funding housing construction have been put on hold by the council.

The proposal, put forward by leader of the opposition Barry Rawlings, suggested looking to the council’s pension fund or joining the UK Municipal Bonds Agency to raise money for affordable housing and requested a report on the idea’s feasibility.

Cllr Rawlings believed, if successful, the plan could lead to an increase in jobs, improve public health, tackle homelessness and child poverty as well as reduce the need for temporary accommodation and cut council spending in the long term.

However, the proposal was held back by Cllr Richard Cornelius, leader of the council, at a Policy and Resources committee meeting on Tuesday night.

He rejected the use of council pension funds outright and asked Cllr Rawlings to “hold fire” on the proposal for the time being as Barnet adjusts to the result of the EU referendum, rather than dismissing the motion entirely.

Cllr Cornelius said: “We are moving into dangerous times with the referendum result. We do not know what will happen to our pensions and cannot risk them on something like this.

“It isn’t practical to chase funding for a project that doesn’t exist yet. If you can find us land to build on, then we could go ahead. This is a land issue, not a spending one.”

Cllr Rawlings, who represents Coppetts, told the committee he believed a little investment now would pay off for Barnet down the line.

Following the meeting, he expressed his disappointment at the decision but said he would take the time to do more research and bring the proposal back to the council in October.

After the meeting, Cllr Rawlings said: “There is a crisis with affordable housing in Barnet right now and we need to find creative ways to fix that. I think it is short sighted to not even put a report together to check if this is possible.

“I will continue to pursue this because we are at an uncertain stage now and it is important that we find creative ways to invest taxpayers’ money that will pay off for them in the future.”