OUR sneak preview through the keyhole of the new council homes in Rose Hill makes exciting viewing.

Rather than just slapping up some low-cost homes, Oxford City Council has taken care to install the latest features — many of them environmentally sound or ecologically friendly — to make these dwellings to be proud of.

There will be energy efficient underfloor heating and roof-mounted solar cells, which will sell excess electricity to the National Grid.

And residents are being promised there will be high levels of insulation.

Not only are the green credentials of these houses spot on, residents should enjoy lower energy bills as a result.

It makes sense for the first houses to be built by the city council for 20 years.

However there should be one caveat to the development.

Across the country each generation of social housing has been touted as state-of-the-art and a wonderful step into the future for tenants.

But many of them turned into hell-holes, partly through neglect of social issues by local authorities.

We hope everyone, the city council as landlord and the tenants, work together to ensure this neighbourhood is a source of pride for its lifetime.