RUMOURS that migrants were being allocated newly built council housing in Minehead have been squashed with Somerset Council publishing statistics showing 92 per cent had gone to ‘white British’ people.

The council said 90 per cent of the new tenants already lived in Minehead parish, and the other 10 per cent had strong local connections through working in the town or having family there.

One tenant was described as ‘African British’ and one other as ‘Caribbean British’.

The 54 houses and flats on the Rainbow Way estate, off Seaward Way, were the first social housing to be built in Minehead for more than 30 years.

The council said all were now occupied after being made available on its online Homefinder service for bids to be made by prospective tenants.

Somerset Cllr Gwyl Wren, from Milverton, criticised social media speculation that the homes were being offered to people with no connection with the area, including one claim they would be used for refugees from the West Midlands.

The Free Press has previously reported on the cases of a retired Minehead postman who had lived and worked in the town all his life, and of a homeless Minehead Hospital worker having to sleep on her mother’s sofa in Dulverton, who were refused Rainbow Way tenancies.

But council housing specialist Stephen Boland said 48 properties went to people ‘ordinarily residing within the parish of Minehead’, and six to people with ‘strong local connections’.

Mr Boland said nearly half had been living in extreme circumstances and were ‘gold banded’ on Homefinder, meaning they were homeless, facing harassment, or being moved from supported accommodation.

He said: “It is fair to say it is the residents of Minehead who have been allocated the properties.

“That was the intention of our local lettings plan, and that is the preference group we highlighted.”