THE letting of newly-built council homes in Minehead has been defended by Somerset Council, which said every tenant was either resident in the town or had ‘strong connections’.
It follows Free Press reports of applications being rejected from people living or working in Minehead, which led to questions being raised on social media.
The council and its contractor Classic Builders are in the closing stages of delivering 54 new council houses and flats in Rainbow Way, off Seaward Way, the first in more than 30 years.
Local residents posted anecdotal evidence on social media of people with strong links to Minehead who said they were not deemed eligible.
Now, the council has responded to say each of the 32 tenants was either a Minehead resident or had strong, provable connections to the town, such another family member living there.
The council pledged to apply the same standards to the remaining properties, which were expected to be completed by late June.
Under the council’s Homefinder housing register, preference for the Rainbow Way homes is being given to ‘applicants with a local connection to Minehead’.
The definition of ‘local connection’ is split into four priority categories:
- Category one - ordinarily a resident in the parish
- Category two - strong local connections, including a ‘close family association’, permanent employment, or previous periods living in Minehead
- Category three - family or permanent employment in Dunster, Minehead Without, Selworthy, Timberscombe, or Wootton Courtenay
- Category four – anybody else registered on Homefinder
One social media user alleged one of the homes had gone to ‘someone from out of the area who stayed eight months at the YMCA’, referring to the former Gascony Hotel, which was turned into a hostel by the YMCA Dulverton Group in 2021.
Another said one of his friends had been ‘overlooked’ despite being ‘born and bred in Minehead’ and working hard at Butlin’s for his entire adult life.
The council said 32 of the completed homes were either occupied or allocated to people who were in the process of moving in.
The remaining 22 properties were still under construction.
A spokesman for the council said: “Of these 32 cases, 28 were or are, in the cases of those whose move is currently pending, allocated as category one under the local connection policy, ie, were ordinarily residing in the parish of Minehead.
“The remaining four were living in temporary accommodation under the homelessness service, and were allocated a property within Rainbow Way under category two.”
The spokesman said due to data protection laws, the council could not publish any information which would lead to any of the individuals being named or otherwise identified.
However, the Free Press has spoken to one tenant known to the newspaper who explained how they had become homeless through no fault of their own and had been living in emergency one-room accommodation until the new properties became available.
They had previously been involved in helping a number of local community organisations, and said their next-door neighbour was also local and had been homeless.