More than 800 council homes for social rent will be lost through estate regenerations in Barnet.

The regeneration schemes on the Grahame Park, West Hendon, Stonegrove Spur Road and Dollis Valley estates will lead to a loss of 827 homes during the next few years – a figure branded “unacceptable” by Labour councillors.

Cllr Ross Houston, Labour’s housing spokesman on Barnet council, said: "We have a housing crisis where even middle income earners are struggling to afford soaring rents, and those on low incomes are finding themselves in real hardship.

"The huge loss of council homes has resulted in more and more people being placed in expensive accommodation in the private rented sector and this just ends up costing the taxpayer more as the benefits bill balloons.”

Cllr Houston said Barnet council needs to look at different models of affordable rent, linked to local incomes, to reduce people's reliance on welfare.

The West Finchley councillor said: "These estate regeneration programmes make large profits for developers. Other London councils have achieved a minimum of like for like replacement of council homes on similar schemes - it is not acceptable that Barnet is unable or unwilling to do this.”

Cllr Houston added: "The housing strategy is not nearly ambitious enough and it is complete nonsense to say that an expectation on replacement of council homes and targets for increasing the supply of affordable homes for ownership and rent cannot be addressed in it."

Cllr Tom Davey, Conservative chairman of the housing committee, said: “On our regeneration estates we are replacing run down housing with good quality homes and have made a conscious decision not to replicate the mono-tenure estates of decades past.

“Instead we are creating mixed communities, where social and private housing is of the same high quality and where residents have a better environment in which to live.”

Cllr Davey said Barnet had built more affordable homes than any other outer London authority, with a net increase of 1,400 since 2010.

The Hale councillor added: “These include the low cost and shared ownership properties that help people to own their own homes.

“Plans are also in place to see over 1,600 new social rented units between 2015 and 2021, with 500 council homes to be built on small parcels of land away from the regeneration sites by 2020.”

Grahame Park will see the loss of 352 homes for secure social rent, West Hendon 220 and Stonegrove Spur Road 122.

Although Dollis Valley will see an increase of 41 homes for secure social rent, it will lose 174 for non-secure social rent.