The second radical alteration to Barking and Dagenham’s housing policy in just a few months comes into effect on Monday.

Under it, applicants for council housing must have lived here for three years before they will be allowed on the register.

Town Hall bosses said the measure was intended to tackle the borough’s housing crisis. More than 23,000 people are stuck on the housing waiting list.

Cllr Saima Ashraf, deputy council leader and cabinet member for housing, said the policy would “have a positive impact on families living in overcrowded and inappropriate private rented accommodation”.

She added the move would “greatly help with some of the health issues people experience”.

The move goes further than the two-year limits in Havering, Redbridge, Newham and Waltham Forest, but stops somewhat short of the previous administration’s plan to hike the wait up to a decade.

That idea lasted just a few months before being repealed by the incoming Labour cabinet, headed up by Cllr Darren Rodwell, who shaved 70 per cent off it in July.

The council also wants to clamp down on people without “housing need” joining the register, such as those looking to rent a second home and people subject to immigration controls.

A consultation will be held in due course, it added, to determine whether the new policy should also apply retrospectively.