BANBURY MP Tony Baldry says north Oxfordshire is missing out on a scheme that could help more people buy their own homes.

Mr Baldry has called on Housing Minister Yvette Cooper to host a summit meeting on social housing in Shire counties within the next 12 months.

He wants the Government, the Council of Mortgage Lenders, and the Housing Corporation to make shared equity schemes accessible to more people.

Mr Baldry revealed how new figures show that only two per cent of people on low incomes in Oxfordshire can access shared equity schemes because the mortgage threshold was too high.

Speaking in a House of Commons debate recently, Mr Baldry outlined how the Government was spending more on housing benefit in north Oxfordshire locking people into private rented homes instead of helping people buy houses.

Mr Baldry said: "The Government has put forward shared equity schemes, which are really exciting.

"My only concern is that the would-be owner has to take on a mortgage of 75 per cent of the value of the property.

"In Oxfordshire, only about two per cent of those on low incomes could afford a shared equity property on that basis.

"Huge numbers of people are going into the private rented sector and the State is paying private landlords considerable sums through rent and housing benefit.

"Housing benefit is money from the taxpayer and I believe more of the benefit should be used to help low-income families access home ownership by reducing the amount to be mortgaged."