SOCIAL media misinformation left people in Kingskerswell ‘frightened’ by the prospect of new housing for local homeless families in the middle of the village.

A meeting of Teignbridge Council’s planning committee heard how the false information posted online about who might end up living in the new homes had created ‘uncertainty’.

But villagers have been reassured that Harewood House – a former guest house and Airbnb location – will be managed by the council and will provide much-needed homes for families from the local area.

The building can house up to 17 people.

Housing officer Chris Trowell said the council had a statutory duty to provide homes.

‘I wish it wasn’t necessary, but Teignbridge is facing a crisis,’ he said.

He said 330 households had been placed in bed and breakfast accommodation in the district over the past 18 months, more than 60 of them with children. Existing facilities in Newton Abbot and Dawlish are at full capacity, he added.

Using Harewood House will mean the council has to spend less on expensive B&B housing.

'It will be actively managed by the council,’ he said. ‘Residents will have a safe and stable living environment.

‘We want to be good neighbours.’

Cllr Jane Taylor (Ind, Kerswell with Coombe) said local people had concerns over the development, ‘some imagined, some real’.

She said the early misinformation had caused uncertainty.

‘It frightened a lot of people,’ she added.

Objectors said allowing it to be used as a house of multiple occupation would mean overcrowding, noise and nuisance.

There is inadequate parking, they say, and neighbours would be overlooked.

Cllr Taylor also raised questions over how vehicles would access the site.

But Cllr David Cox (Lib Dem, Teignmouth Central) urged the committee to back the plan, saying: ‘Imperfect as it is, it is going to be a lot better than some of the accommodation that people are put in.

‘It is a move in the right direction.’

The committee passed the plans with six members in favour, none against and two abstentions.