Council houses in Kingston are to be extended to create more three-bedroom family homes, and address the borough's "appalling track record" of home-building.

Kingston Council will also begin a 15-year regeneration of its two biggest estates - the Cambridge Road estate in Norbiton and Kingsnympton Park in Kingston Hill.

However, construction of newly-designed homes is unlikely to start until 2018.

In the meantime the authority will spend £103,250 to extend 14 homes - eight in the Cambridge Road estate and six in Kingsnympton - and the Greater London Authority will contribute £309,750.

Councillor Cathy Roberts, lead member for housing, said: "An increase in population is a key part of the development of Kingston.

"We need our housing stock to keep up with demand, and there’s currently not enough.

"We are addressing this through a large-scale 15 year estate regeneration project, but this plan is in the very early stages, with no construction work likely to start for several years.

"In the meantime, we have to continue to manage our housing stock. We have a large number of families requesting three-bedroom homes."

But Liberal Democrat opposition leader Coun Liz Green said: "We are being squeezed either side on three-bedroom homes. You get a better return as a developer on one or two bedrooms."

She added that when people extend their homes to four or even five bedrooms, and later move out, new owners "come in and split it into two flats, because you've got a larger house".

Council leader Kevin Davis said" "We've not built enough houses, of any kind. Kingston has an appalling track record of building homes. We clearly haven't built any more council homes.

"I want us to have more council-owned properties so we can support more Kingston residents to live and work in our borough."

Between May 2011 and June this year, 99 council homes were sold under the right to buy scheme, with discounts of up to £102,700.

The most expensive home sold under the scheme, in the KT2 postcode, was worth £340,000.

More than 3,600 people have waited more than five years for a council home in Kingston.