Dozens of jobs and new business opportunities will be created as part of a huge new contract to renovate a city's housing stock.

Brighton and Hove City Council will be offering a multimillion pound deal to companies bidding to bring the 12,000 council houses up to the Government's Decent Homes standards.

Until now, repairs and improvements have been tendered out for two-year periods, but Councillor Mary Mears, head of housing at the council, wants to move to ten-year contracts.

She hopes that the scale of the deal, which will run into tens of millions of pounds, will allow the city council to include a series of measures to train and employ the long-term unemployed in Brighton and Hove.

Firms could also be forced to manufacture and assemble kitchen units and bathrooms in the city, boosting the economy.

The move has been welcomed by Tony Mernagh, executive director of the Brighton and Hove Economic Partnership.

He said: "If it is possible, it is very clever.

"We do have an equality gap and if anything it is getting bigger.

"Anything that can reduce this gap and provide affordable housing would get the support of the business community."

Along with the decision not to replace all kitchens and bathrooms at once, the longer contracts will cut £150 million of the total bill to renovate council housing.

Savings include cutting the price of each kitchen from almost £5,000 to £3,500 and slashing the consultants costs by £20 million in the next 30 years.

The council is also in discussions with nearby authorities to strike a deal with one firm for the whole region which would further cut the costs.

Coun Mears said: "We will be in a stronger position compared to two year contracts and we will be able to ask those bidding for the contract: 'what are you going to provide?' "We are in a position where we can say we want them to provide us with something.

"There are areas of our estates where people need to find jobs and this could help."

In some editions of The Argus on Monday, we revealed that new council houses were being planned for Brighton and Hove for the first time in a generation.

The longer contracts and new council homes are part of a series of financial measures to tackle the £600 million bill to renovate and maintain council homes in the city for the next 30 years.

The council faced a multimillion pound black hole after tenants voted "no" earlier this year to transferring properties to a housing association.

A £50 million gap remains to be filled, and Coun Mears hopes that rent from the new building programme will subsidise the work and provide new properties.

Does this move go far enough to dramatically improve unemployment? Or should business leaders do more to attract big firms to the city? Tell us what you think below.