MORALLY-behaved people should be top of the housing list, according to a town mayor.

Lyme Regis’s first citizen Owen Lovell spoke out as it was revealed that 20 per cent of all properties in the resort are second homes.

Mr Lovell said more affordable housing was needed but it should go to morally-behaved people rather that priority being given to single mothers and drug abusers.

He said: “The figures do not surprise me they only really reinforce what we believe in Lyme Regis, which is that we do not need any more new build unless it is schemes for only affordable housing. The only surprise to me is that the figure is not at 25 per cent already.”

Mr Lovell said the town needed affordable homes and targeted social housing.

He added: “We also need greater control over housing allocations policy. The current system denies local morally-behaved individuals the right to a home in their area of birth, they are pushed aside on pre-conceived ordained central government policies attached to the monies to build many of the affordable homes, using the term in the loosest possible sense.

“Everybody is aware that if you get pregnant you get accommodated, if you have drug problems you get accommodated, it is about time if you do the right thing by society you get accommodated and not ignored and left to fend for yourself.”

He added that the “best chance” for Lyme was the Community Land Trust scheme at Timber Hill – although it was not an “ideal location.”

As of March 31 this year, there were 2,409 dwellings, of which 495 are second homes, equating to 20 per cent or one in every five homes. This is up from December 2010, when there were 2,380 dwellings in Lyme, of which 409 were second homes, or 17 per cent.

In Bridport, there are 4,588 dwellings and 251, or five per cent, are second homes.

Housing spokesman for West Dorset District Council Tim Yarker said it was “inaccurate” to say social housing allocation as only for “the pregnant and those with a drug problem.”

He said the criteria for joining the housing register are clear and transparent and Dorset councils had a “duty to house homeless people in all conditions of life,” adding the homeless would not be competing for the same kind of accommodation as members of the register that are already housed. He said: “Above all else the council tries to avoid homelessness before it occurs.”

Mr Yarker added there were no longer discounts on council tax for second homes and the government had added “further disincentives” by increasing the stamp duty.

He added that the owners of second homes also contribute to the “economic health” of the district.

WDDC has a policy that stipulates that 35 per cent of housing developments should be in the affordable category, he added.