Norfolk council housing waiting lists top 11,800 last month

Data from a Freedom of Information request showed more than 11,800 people on council housing waiting lists in Norfolk in November

Almost 50 people a week have been joining a council housing waiting list in one Norfolk district.

Great Yarmouth has "demand that is virtually impossible to get on top of" said Trevor Wainwright, leader of the Labour group at the borough council.

Freedom of Information (FOI) data showed more than 11,800 on waiting lists across Norfolk in November.

Conservative-run Great Yarmouth has plans to introduce a £2m "social letting scheme".

Yarmouth had 813 outstanding applications for housing, and a further 1,096 yet to be assessed, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The figures also revealed the numbers on waiting lists in the county's other districts:

• 4,300 in Norwich

• 1,625 in Breckland

• 1,021 in the Broadland and South Norfolk districts

• 1,469 in King's Lynn & West Norfolk

• 2,499 in North Norfolk

Of those districts that were able to provide figures, the FOI data broke down how much councils spent on out-of-district temporary accommodation this year.

• North Norfolk - £835,000

• Norwich - £103,983

• Great Yarmouth - £500,000

Daniel Childerhouse, chief executive of Future Projects, a charity which offers support for housing and homelessness, said it was seeing more people, who would previously have "scraped by", needing support with housing.

"There simply isn't enough suitable, affordable accommodation, and this is a direct result of government policy over several years," he said.

"What's needed is significant and long-term investment from our government in both housebuilding and housing-related support services."

• Gove: I will act against councils failing on housing

• Cambridge to be 'supercharged' under housing plans

• Councils reject Gove's 'housing plan failure' speech

Conservative-run Great Yarmouth Borough Council hopes a new £2m "social letting scheme" will go some way to tackle the problem and will boost the number of affordable rental properties in the district.

The project will create a council-owned company to offer affordable, quality private rented accommodation to households at risk of homelessness.

It hopes to work with private landlords to lease homes to those in need, while also reducing the amount the council spends on hotels and bed and breakfasts as temporary accommodation.