Isle of Wight Council's affordable housing 'ground to a halt'

A council report found 83% of residents could not afford a new-build home on the open market

A council's housing chief has said its delivery model for affordable homes has "ground to a halt".

Ian Stephens criticised the Isle of Wight Council's executive for not building affordable housing when nearly 2,500 families need a home.

A council report found 83% of residents could not afford a new-build home on the open market.

It revealed the average price of a new-build property had almost doubled since 2010.

Figures from the authority showed prices had risen from £189,742 in 2010 to £373,663 in January this year, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

Mr Stephens said the council was in a place it did not want to be and the "ray of light" of modular housing, which the cabinet agreed to take forward last October, had progressed no further.

He said it had "lost traction and ground to a halt".

Members of the authority's corporate scrutiny committee said they felt they had no answers as to what the council was doing or had done to deliver affordable housing, LDRS reported.

Mr Stephens said he hoped a cabinet reshuffle and reorganisation of council departments would create a more "robust and sustainable housing unit".

But councillor Joe Robertson said he was not convinced the problem was structural because the council has a housing company, created by the previous Conservative administration, which remains dormant.

Chris Ashman, the council's regeneration director, said the housing strategy approved in 2020, "on the eve of the pandemic", still had the right tools to deliver.

Mr Robertson agreed that the pieces were in place and said it was down to the council's executive to "just do it".