Last updated 15:57, Thursday, 02 October 2008

A SURVEY carried out by Tynedale Council into Allendale’s housing needs has alarmed parish councillors.

For local residents say the survey has painted an inaccurate picture of the Dale’s housing situation.

The survey was distributed to homes across the parish to try to find out the level of housing demand compared with existing availability.

Councillors claimed there was a distinct disparity between the reported figures and reality.

It was pointed out that while a lot of properties in the parish fell into the ‘rented’ category, many of these were occupied by tenants of Allendale Estates.

Coun. Margaret Stonehouse explained that while such properties were technically classed as rental, they would never be available to the general public.

She said: “You could not just go and rent the gamekeeper’s cottage; it comes with the job.”

Similarly, Coun. Stonehouse pointed out that houses on farms were also classed as rented properties, but these were usually passed down the generations and were kept within farming families.

Parish clerk Anne Grieve said: “It is quite concerning that Tynedale has produced this document without that local knowledge.”

The parish council has sought help from an independent statistician to analyse the data produced by the housing needs survey. The disparities will be pointed out to Tynedale.