Council spends more on beach huts for the rich than it does on affordable housing

Torbay Council in Devon is under fire for spending five times as much on beach huts as it has on affordable housing over the last three years.

The Conservative-led council spent £2.35 million on beach huts in 2013-2015, redeveloping huts at Broadsands and Meadfoot, compared with just £470,000 on affordable housing.

Meanwhile, the council currently has around 2,000 people on its housing waiting list.

The council has defended its priorities, saying that the beach huts bring in much-needed revenue - some are up for rent for as much as £2,500 a year.

But Liberal Democrat councillor Steve Darling has called the situation shocking, pointing out that last year Torbay Council spent £1.7 million on beach huts - and nothing at all on the development of affordable housing.

The news is all the more controversial as the beach hut scheme over-ran its budget by 40%, costing council tax payers an extra £600,000. The overspend was blamed on storm damage that had happened a year earlier.

It's generally accepted that the UK is suffering from a crisis in affordable housing. Fewer than 460,000 homes were built between 2011 and 2014, according to the National Housing Federation, while 974,000 were needed.

According to figures from Rightmove released this week, the average asking price of a home in the south-west has risen by 0.9% this month. A survey carried out recently by accountancy firm KPMG found that 73% of locals believe there isn't enough affordable housing in the area.

In the south-west, it says, the average house costs £179,204, meaning you'd need to earn £35,841 to get a mortgage. In fact, average pay in the area is just £20,690.

"These figures make for frightening reading and show that housing affordability is no longer just a problem for lower wage earners," says Jan Crosby, KPMG's head of housing.

"Being able to live in a stable home is a basic human need, tied up with important feelings of choice and certainty, and we are living in a world now where only a few can hope for that, which cannot be right."

However, despite this shortage of affordable housing in the south west, Torbay mayor Gordon Oliver wants to cut the budget further. Just a couple of weeks ago, he told councillors that he wanted to raid the council's affordable housing funds, siphoning off £1 million to smarten up Torquay Strand.

Other councillors are opposing the move.

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