Councillors on the Isles of Scilly have agreed to spend more than £400,000 on housing improvements after finding almost half its stock does not meet the required standard.

The Council of the Isles of Scilly carried out a survey of its housing stock for the first time in 15 years.

That found that 46 per cent of the council’s housing stock does not meet the decent homes standard. And while the other 54 per cent does meet the standard, 15 per cent of those were found to need short-term repairs to maintain that standard.

Surveys were carried out across 99 of the council’s 119 homes and the most common failures were due to windows, electrical issues and insufficient heating.

But the survey found that 23 homes had the most serious hazards under the Government’s housing health and safety rating system (HHSRS) which were down to windows, fire safety and electrical safety.

In the survey the inspectors highlight windows in homes at Sallyport which they said were “unsafe” and warned that they were “at risk of falling out or trapping limbs”.

The inspectors also found a number of properties which were not fitted with fire or smoke alarms or fire doors.

A report to the council states: “The immediate notification of these issues to the housing team has seen urgent works commissioned and an action plan put in place for the rectification of these matters. Tenants have been notified and interim management solutions put in place.”

The council has agreed to increase its capital programme by £416,756 so repairs can be carried out on the homes to bring them up to standard.

However the independent report from the surveys found that the council’s liability for maintenance over a 30-year period will be more than £5 million – equating to £45,500 per property.

Council chairman Robert Francis told a meeting of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership this week that housing was a big challenge for the council.

He said that as well as the urgent need to make improvements to the council’s housing stock there was also a need for more affordable housing on the islands.

Cllr Francis said there were 55 families in need of a home on the Isles of Scilly.

He added: “The biggest problem we have is that the cost of building is 150 per cent what it costs to build in Cornwall. It is a huge cost.”

The council chairman said there had been work to try to find a partner to work with the council to deliver new homes but said it was not easy.

“It is so difficult to get anybody interested in finding a solution because of the costs involved,” he added.

He also said he was due to have a meeting with the Duchy of Cornwall to see if it could help in any way.