A TOTAL of 200 new council homes could be built to offer affordable housing, including 100 in Jaywick.

Tendring Council has already approved a new five-year housing strategy for the district which includes providing 200 extra council homes by 2025.

A report has now outlined that 100 of those homes could be built in Jaywick as part of plans to regenerate the Brooklands area, which is officially listed as the most deprived area in the country.

The report, which will go before the council’s cabinet on Friday, has also suggested where some of remaining houses should go, based on the demand for affordable housing across the district.

It would include 40 homes in the Clacton area, five in Harwich, ten in the Frinton, Walton and Kirby area, five in the Manningtree area, five in Brightlingsea and five in rural villages.

Paul Honeywood, cabinet member for housing, said: “We are focusing the provision of more council homes in Jaywick as part of the housing-led regeneration of the area.

“The intention is to provide 100 homes there with the remaining elsewhere in the district.

“Due to ground conditions and the flooding risk in the area it is necessary to build flood resilient homes, which, by their nature, cost more than houses developed in most other areas of the district.

“Development of the 100 homes in Jaywick has, therefore, to be assessed with the wider regeneration of the area in mind.

“However, there are families with children across Tendring who we need to provide homes for, which is why we will be looking to provide homes where they are needed across the district.”

The report said there is a growing demand for affordable housing and the council expects homelessness will increase once some of the measures introduced by the Government during the Covid-19 pandemic are relaxed, such as the ban on landlord’s serving notices on private tenancies.

Jaywick councillor Dan Casey said the deprived area needed more than just new homes.

He said: “These plans to provide homes in Jaywick is welcome. More must be done to improve conditions in some properties, to hold rogue landlords to account and provide jobs.”