New homes won’t ‘scratch the surface’ of Torbay’s need

Torbay has been urged to do more to help people desperate for social housing across the three towns of the English Riviera.

The bay’s councillors agreed unanimously to buy four new-build homes in Paignton – three of them for local families in need of temporary accommodation and one for a family under the Afghan Resettlement Scheme.
But they admitted the move would hardly scratch the surface of the bay’s problems.
Government money will be used to buy the homes, and the government insists that the fourth home must go to people from Afghanistan whose lives are at risk in their own country because they helped British forces during the war there.
“We owe these people a great debt,” said Cllr Cordelia Law (Lib Dem, Tormohun).
Cllr Alan Tyerman (Con, Churston with Galmpton) said around 70 Torbay families each week were in temporary accommodation, around half of them in properties bought by the council previously.
“I appreciate that three properties has a small impact,” he said. “But we have to keep chipping away at every opportunity to improve the lives of our children through this sort of initiative.”
Cllr Swithin Long (Lib Dem, Barton with Watcombe) said the Afghan people being re-settled would have put their lives on the line, but he understood that some people had negative reactions to the resettlement scheme.
“There is a real frustration in the community about the lack of social housing,” he said. “Torbay has a woeful number of social rented homes, and it needs a step-change in the amount of social housing in the area.
“While this scheme is absolutely great, sadly it won’t even scratch the surface of the need in Torbay.”
And, he said, the aborted social housing scheme off Preston Down Road in Paignton would have delivered 50 social homes by now if it had gone ahead. Council leader David Thomas (Con, Preston) said an announcement would be made soon on the Preston Down Road project.