Anger over county housing cash 'betrayal'

'They have an opportunity to address the housing crisis and have decided not to'

Devon County Council is being accused of betraying local families in desperate need of homes.

County Hall has announced that instead of ‘ring-fencing’ proceeds from doubling council tax on second homes and using it for housing projects, it will spend some of the money on fixing potholes instead.

The announcement sparked fury from South Hams district councillors, who wanted all the cash ploughed back into housing. The area has 4,000 second homes, and the £6.4 million raised is the highest of any district in Devon.

“What the county council is doing is a betrayal of the people of Devon,” said Cllr David Hancock (Lib Dem, South Brent). “They have an opportunity to address what they have declared as a housing crisis, and they have decided not to.”

But South Hams' full council dropped a call for the extra money raised in the district to be kept there, after hearing that they could drive a better bargain by being more flexible.

Members were voting on a motion brought by Cllr Nicky Hopwood (Con., Woolwell), who said the county council should repair road from its existing budget rather than spending council tax funds.

“I would never have voted for 200 per cent council tax if I thought for one moment that Devon would not ringfence it for affordable housing,” she said. 

She said she was ‘bitterly disappointed’, and went on: “We didn’t raise the council tax to give it to the whole of Devon. We raised it to give it to the South Hams.

“If we can’t keep that money in the South Hams, what’s the point of charging it?”

Council leader Julian Brazil (Lib Dem, Stokenham), who also sits on the county council, said while it would be wrong to demand that the money stay in the South Hams, it was right to say it should stay in the housing budget.

He went on: “This is about the county, having declared a housing crisis, betraying the people of Devon by saying they are going to spend money putting a sticking plaster over potholes in the roads.

“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest tens of millions of pounds into housing we desperately need.

“Our communities are being hollowed out. They are becoming retirement homes for people from up-country.”

Cllr Jonathan Hawkins (Con, Dartmouth and East Dart) said while communities benefit from money brought in by second home owners, there were streets in Dartmouth and Kingswear which had just one local family living in them all year round.

Families were moving out and relocating to Torbay and Newton Abbot, where they could afford homes.

“It is really soul-destroying,” he said.