A COUNCIL house where the tenant was evicted 19 months ago is being auctioned off - despite more than 2,000 families being on the housing waiting list.

Ward councillor Ross Henley has slammed the decision to sell the last remaining council home in Stapley, in the Blackdown Hills, and called in the issue at tomorrow (Thursday) night's Taunton Deane Borough Council corporate scrutiny meeting.

He says he has been unsuccessfully pressing the authority to renovate and re-let the house since it became empty and was boarded up in August 2016.

Mr Henley said: "There are lots of people locally who would want to rent that house and stay and live and work in the Blackdowns.

"They won't get much for the sale now anyway as they have left the house over two winters, which will depreciate its value.

"The final insult is that any money gained from the sale won't be used to fund social housing locally but will be used to pay for internal council re-structuring."

A Deane House spokeswoman said the council decided to sell the house in Stapley and another in West Buckland as they are in poor condition and would have cost a total of £52,000 to renovate, coupled with ongoing repair and maintenance cost.

She added: "The property at Stapley became vacant in August 2016, following eviction of the previous tenant due to non-payment of rent.

"The property had been left by the former tenant full of their possessions and had not been emptied.

"The council routinely boards up vacant properties to stop evicted tenants getting back in and/or to deter squatters.

"Its condition was evaluated in December 2016 and the costs of renovation were put at £32,000. Further maintenance would be needed in future. There was a delay in looking at potential options for the property – this took place in September 2017."

She said only one applicant shows the parish of Churchstanton as first choice on Homefinder Somerset, while a survey of the parish in 2015 demonstrated "only a small need" that could be met by five new affordable homes at Ford Farm, Churchinford.

In West Buckland there are currently no applicants showing the parish as first choice on Homefinder Somerset, while there is only one household eligible for a one-bedroom property.

At present there are 2,067 households registered on the Homefinder Somerset system in the Deane.

Councils can use money from assets they sell to fund reform and transformation to modernise and streamline the way they work - the spokeswoman said that will in turn release money to improve services for tenants and invest in more efficient homes.