Opposition members of Cornwall Council have slammed a decision, ratified by the Conservative administration, to sell off a number of council houses across the Duchy, which have been deemed “surplus to requirement”. The move has been called “perverse” and “a complete step in the wrong direction” during a housing crisis.

However, the Tory councillor in charge of housing has blamed the former administration, which had no overall political control, for neglecting the properties meaning they have become too expensive for the council to repair.

The council has agreed to sell 19 of its vacant homes which it determined are no longer economically viable to retain as the cost of repairing each of the properties would be greater than £50,000 per property.

In her report to the council’s corporate finances committee which rubber-stamped the recommendation to get rid of the houses last week, Catriona Smith – of the local authority’s property services department – said: “The council cannot hold properties which offer no future service value or limited commercial value and therefore disposal is the required outcome.

“Disposal of surplus assets may generate the council capital receipts, reduce revenue holding costs and the requirement for capital investment. The transfer of a surplus property to third party purchasers enables property to be brought into new uses which may be commercial, housing, community or personal. These can bring new life to properties which are no longer needed by the council.”

The houses which will be sold off are:

A number of cross-party opposition councillors are not happy that the properties will be sold. Shadow member for homes Cllr Andrew Mitchell said: “I am astounded at this decision. How many more times can this Conservative administration get it wrong? What with the housing crisis here in Cornwall, the council selling affordable homes from its own housing stock is just perverse.”

Cllr Julian German, shadow leader of Cornwall Council, added: “If Independents are in positions of leadership after the Cornwall Council elections we will bring back the dedicated empty homes team to bring properties back into use. Along with partners, we will embark on a programme of social housing building to increase the current stock by 25 per cent. We will use second homes council tax to help make this happen.”

He added that while 9 and 10 Trevose Road, Truro, are derelict and not habitable, alongside 11 and 12 Trevose Road they occupy a relatively large site “which could be redeveloped with an increased number of social housing properties”.

“It is the principle of this pure and simple,” said deputy leader of the Liberal Democrat group Thalia Marrington. “This is the opposite of what we as a council should be doing. As councillors, we regularly deal with people in emergency or temporary accommodation. Notwithstanding the unacceptable and awful human cost to this, there is also the astronomical financial cost to the council.

“Something is not right if we are seriously looking to sell off some of the council housing stock we DO actually own. We should instead be working flat out at getting these properties back and rentable so that we can start taking some of the ‘real’ people and families off of the ‘list’ and into homes. This would then, of course, start generating a return for the council in rents for the future too.

“We need to seize every option possible to tackle our so real housing crisis in Cornwall. This just seems to be a complete step in the wrong direction.”

Labour councillor for Redruth North Stephen Barnes said: “Selling off vacant HRA [housing revenue account] properties shows the level of incompetence that this authority has sunk to. With the housing waiting list getting longer and the suffering of those in dire need for accommodation, selling off housing stock shows that the Tory leadership have truly lost their way.”

The council’s Conservative member in charge of housing, Cllr Olly Monk, has responded to his fellow councillors’ criticism. He told us: “Cornwall Council has had to make some tough choices regarding the disposal of some of our older stock. These properties were neglected by the previous administration, and this has made them uneconomical for the council to repair.

“This, combined with increased Energy Efficiency standards and an increase in building material costs, has made it unviable for the council to make these properties fit to live in. This disposal will allow the money generated from the sales to be used to help fund new council homes that are both energy efficient and much cheaper for our residents who will live there.

“It’s worth remembering that once these properties are bought and refurbished by the private sector, they will still be available to buy or rent locally.”