ENFIELD residents will be sent to the top of the list when it comes to allocating council homes if new Government plans go ahead.

People who have been on the waiting list for a long time will also be given priority.

And the longer you have lived in Enfield the better chance you will have of securing a home.

The move was prompted by a change of direction by central Government, which plans to let local councils have more control over their own housing stocks.

Housing Minister John Healey announced the change last week and will consult on the plans over the summer.

Under the proposals councils would get control over the income it takes from tenants.

"I want to provide more flexibility in finances and more transparency in the operation of the system. I want to devolve control from central to local government,” Mr Healey said.

"In return, I want to increase local responsibility and accountability for long term planning, asset management, and for meeting the housing needs of local people. The current system makes this difficult to achieve."

In the past this money, and crucially for social housing stocks, 75 per cent of the money gained from the sale of council homes, had to be handed over to central Government.

The Government then re-allocated housing funding back to the councils based on housing need.

Enfield council's cabinet member for housing, Cllr Matthew Laban, welcomed the move.

"It is only fair that families who have a long association with the borough are given priority for social housing where the need arises,” he said.

Assistant director for community housing services, Sally McTernan, said the new system should be fairer and easier to understand.

"We are proposing giving people who have lived in Enfield for three years or more extra points, and those who have lived in Enfield for 10 out of the last 15 years will get even more points.

"If we have several households with the same level of priority we will prioritise the household who has been on the housing register the longest first, this will recognise those who have been waiting longest, which we believe makes the system fairer."

There are nearly 8,000 households on the Enfield housing waiting list but only 871 properties.