Villagers have reacted with anger after it emerged the council is housing refugees in a newbuild estate where properties sell for more than £700,000.
Residents living in rural Langtoft, Lincolnshire, say there is ‘an outcry’ over the plans to house Afghan and Ukrainian families on the £1.8million estate.
They say locals who have been waiting for accommodation or those struggling to get on the housing ladder should be given priority. Property prices in the village are said to average £400,000.
South Kesteven District Council bought 12 of the houses for just over £1.8million, using joint funding from the Government’s Local Authority Housing Fund and the Council’s Housing Revenue Account budget.
The dozen homes are a mix of two and three-bedroom new-builds and two-bedroom bungalows which were already identified for social housing, according to the council. They are the first of 21 houses earmarked for the re-homing scheme.
Housing developer Ashwood Homes boasts the 41 ‘high-specification homes’ that comprise its Woodland Rise development are in a ‘beautiful rural location’, with three of the houses listed for sale for between £600,000-£720,000.
The council expects to take ownership of the 12 properties by the end of the month and they will be used to house Ukraine and Afghan migrants who have arrived in the UK legally.
It has £4.4million earmarked for a total of 21 properties for the re-housing scheme, with £2,383,750 coming from the council’s Housing Revenue Account and £2,098,750 of funding allocated by the Government Local Authority Housing Fund.
South Kesteven District Council is one of three local authorities in Lincolnshire and among just 180 nationwide to be selected to benefit from the Government’s fund.
The fund, which is worth £500million nationally, helps provide affordable homes for legal evacuees until their visas expire in around three to five years’ time, by supporting local authorities.
Funding from it can be used for, but is not limited to, acquiring, refurbishing, converting and developing properties to provide housing for Ukrainian and Afghan families under the government’s humanitarian schemes.
This could include acquiring new build properties ‘off-the-shelf’, according to government guidance.
The council said the homes will later be occupied by families on its Housing Register.
Local resident Liz Jarman, 74, said people in Langtoft have ‘not been given one chance’ to buy a house on the development.