Local authorities have failed to replace properties sold under Right to Buy with new affordable homes over the past five years, data shows.

Under the Right to Buy one-for-one additions policy, local authorities have three years from the date of the sale of each home to provide an additional affordable property.

Government figures out this week showed 17,059 additional affordable properties were started or acquired between the first quarter of 2012 and the first three months of 2018, behind the 21,265 that should have been provided to replace Right to Buy sales.

The data also shows that the number of Right to Buy sales in England fell 13% annually in the second quarter of this year to 2,452, the lowest value since the start of 2013.

Just 837 dwellings were started or acquired as part of the Right to Buy replacement policy over the first quarter of 2018, down 14% year-on-year.