It's now 30 years since the great council house sell-off began.

For many people it provided the chance for them to own the houses in which they had lived for years.

And thousands of tenants seized the opportunity.

It was one of the policies which characterised the early years of Lady Thatcher's government.

Of course there were many who were unhappy with it, for inevitably it led to a reduction in the number of council houses.

And it was left to private landlords and housing associations to respond to the need for rented homes. They have plugged a gap in the market but they are not the sole answer and in the intervening years the need for rented homes has continued to grow.

So the news that scores of new council houses are to be built in Bristol is welcome.

There will always be people who cannot afford to buy their own homes and they cannot all be catered for by private organisations.

Local authorities are the ideal bodies to play a role in meeting this need.

And after years of being made to sell off council homes they are at last being given the opportunity and the money again to build new ones.

The pendulum had surely swung too far away from them. The new homes that will be built in Bristol will help to bring it back in the right direction.

We may never again see council house building on the scale of generations ago, but at least Bristol City Council is again involved in building and renting out homes.

In many ways society has changed dramatically in the past 30 years.

But one thing has remained – the need for affordable, social housing.