WEST DEVON is heading for a 'whopping deficit' in affordable housing, a major survey has warned.

The borough needs to provide 363 new 'affordable' homes per year to cope with demand from the bottom end of the market, according to the survey for the borough council. Survey head Richard Fordham, of Fordham Research, called this 'a staggeringly large number'.

'There is simply no substantial supply of affordable housing in this area,' he said. 'There is a substantial housing need and no real prospect of meeting it.'

By 'affordable' the survey means homes costing between £34,500 and £92,000 and it recommends that 40 per cent of all new houses on sites of 15 or more should be in this price bracket. This type of housing should cost not more than £61 a week for one bedroom, £72 for two bedrooms or £84 for three bedrooms or more.

At the present rate the borough is likely to produce only 70 new affordable homes by 2010, Dr Fordham told the strategic development committee on Tuesday.

In the borough, 79.5 per cent of homes are owner-occupied, compared with around 68 per cent nationally, implying a scarcity of homes to rent. Half of the population is earning under £15,000 a year, so cannot afford to buy property.

Moreover, much of the housing stock, particularly rented property, is sub-standard. The researchers estimate that 2,529 households, or 12.3 per cent, are in 'unsuitable' accommodation.

More than a quarter of housing association tenants and 35 per cent of private tenants are living in 'unsuitable' places. Just over half of those in 'unsuitable' homes need to move out.

Dr Fordham said the survey would give the planners the ability to ask developers for more smaller properties, instead of the four-bedroom houses they preferred.

Chief planner Stephen Gill welcomed the report and agreed it would put the council in a stronger position in its dealings with builders. 'We can move from negotiating to demanding,' he said.

He said the information would contribute to forming the council's housing policies within the Local Plan.

West Devon has already proposed in its Local Plan to build around 1,900 new houses, as well as the 2,000 under construction, to fulfil the order by Devon County to build 4,100 by 2011.

The next step will be for the Development Plan Review Working Group to consider the survey and discuss how to tackle the shortfall.