CORNWALL Council is believed to have come top of the pops when it comes to affordable housing.

The council is said to be the best performing local authority in the country for delivering affordable homes.

News of the achievement was announced at a meeting of the council’s economic growth and development overview and scrutiny committee this week by Jon Lloyd-Owen, the council’s strategic director for housing.

But the announcement was tempered by Andrew Mitchell, Cabinet member for housing, who was clearly surprised and said he thought the council was waiting until it had been confirmed.

Figures released by the council showed that in the last three quarters of 2017/18 there were 1,692 affordable homes provided in Cornwall.

The first two quarters of 2018/19 have seen the council deliver another 474 affordable homes with a target of 245 in the third quarter.

Cllr Mitchell said: “We believe that it is the position – we will be number one, but we just want to check that is correct.

“It was a slight shock to use with our own figures. We thought that we were going to be number two.

“It is fantastic news whether were first or second. We have helped provide these homes for Cornish families who need affordable homes.

“There is this constant debate about what is affordable and that is something we are continuing to look at as a council to ensure that we are helping those who need homes.

“But the headline is that we are doing what we set out to do as a council in delivering affordable homes and I think that is fantastic.”

The position is based solely on the number of homes delivered by each local authority and not compared to population levels or area.

Committee member Dick Cole had a word of warning about celebrating such figures too much.

He highlighted that Cornwall Council had recently been named as having one of the highest incomes from car parking charges but said that did not take into account the size of the area covered by the council or the number of car parks it operates.

He said that in affordable housing “there may be smaller authorities that are doing really, really well” but would not have high numbers as they cover a smaller population or area.