EMPTY garages in Poole are due to be demolished to make way for much-needed affordable homes on the site.

The land in Moor View Road, Oakdale, will be used for the development of six social housing units by Sandbourne Housing Association. There are currently 32 unused garages on the site.

A report on the proposals by the council’s head of estates, Sarah Varley, will be considered by Councillor John Challinor, portfolio holder for strategic commercialisation and estates, on Tuesday.

Once Sandbourne Housing Association has built the homes, Poole council will allocate them to residents on the Housing Register who are currently inadequately housed or without a home of their own.

According to Ms Varley’s report, creating more affordable homes is an “established council priority”.

The shortage of homes in the borough is “acute”, she said, with more than a thousand households currently on the council’s Housing Register.

Outlining the need for more affordable homes in her report, she said : “These homes are very much needed by current residents of the borough who are currently inadequately housed (for example under occupying their current homes or over crowded) or without a home of their own (for example having to live with friends or family).

“Residents in housing need may be suffering from long-term medical conditions have disabilities or generally have less life chances than others. They may also be working but have wages which are insufficient to buy a home of their own and shared ownership will assist them to provide a home for their families.”

The Moor View Road site has been valued at £260,000, but the land will be transferred from the council’s Housing Revenue Account to its General Fund before a building lease is granted to the housing association. After the housing has been built, the association will retain the freehold.