SOMERSET Council has vehemently denied that new Minehead council houses will be used to re-home refugees from elsewhere in the UK.

The council’s housing team held a public drop-in event on Tuesday afternoon (June 18) to mark the release of the first homes within the Rainbow Way site, delivering 54 new low-cost homes for local people.

Comments emerged on social media following a livestream before the event, claiming that the council had “taken a payment” from Birmingham City Council to use the new homes to rehouse refugees from the Midlands, rather than being offered to people who live or work in the Minehead area.

The council has issued a strongly-worded denial to these claims, stating they are “not true” and that none of the homes have yet been allocated to potential tenants.

Numerous local residents made claims on Facebook, either during the live-streamed tour of one of the new properties or after the stream had finished.

Mandi Wooldridge, who lives in Washford, said: “Can you enquire if the council has taken a payment from Birmingham City Council to house some of their refugees in these houses?”

Lee Jones, replying to her comment, said: “I thought all those on the fire station road (not Periton Mead) where all allocated for Birmingham City Council-funded places.

“It’s being kept quiet because it’s gonna cause a lot of trouble locally when people find out.”

Somerset Council has debunked these allegations and confirmed that priority for the new properties will be given to those living in or having connections to Minehead and the adjoining parishes of Minehead Without, Selworthy, Wootton Courtenay, Timberscombe and Dunster.

A spokesman said: “We can confirm that the new homes at Rainbow Way have not been allocated and will be subject to an application process.

“The Local Letting Plan makes clear that preference will be given to applicants with a local connection to Minehead.

“Full details regarding priority order for allocation are detailed on the Local Letting Plan web pages.

“The comments regarding Birmingham City Council are not true.”

The council was provided with £3.5m from the government’s local authority housing fund (LAHF) in January to purchase 31 existing properties to house refugees from Afghanistan and Ukraine, who arrived under official resettlement schemes.

The council has not confirmed the location for these properties, but did state in January that the homes would be urban areas to ensure refugees could easily access local services.

These properties will eventually be re-let to people on the council’s housing lets once the refugees have left or relocated to a different part of the country.

Project officer Alex Williams gave the Local Democracy Reporting Service an exclusive tour of one of the new properties (a two-bedroom, end of terrace house) on Tuesday, June 18, shortly before a public drop-in event was held for prospective tenants.

She said: “The homes are filled with lovely, bright windows – that’s one of the key design elements of this project.”

 To register an interest in the new Rainbow Way properties, visit www.homefindersomerset.co.uk.