A councillor has criticised plans to build accommodation for homeless people in Rickmansworth.

Speaking ahead of a Three Rivers District Council meeting this evening, councillor David Sansom said the council is prioritising “profit over people’s lives”.

He said the site, on which it is recommended 17 modular homes should be built, is too small and an inappropriate place to house so many families.

The council is recommending that temporary accommodation be built on the former Royal Voluntary Service site, in Bury Lane, to alleviate current housing problems and to save up to £200,000 a year.

READ MORE: Up to 266 homes for homeless could be built

It has suggested that 10 one-bedroom and seven two-bedroom apartments should be built, meaning up to 70 homeless people would be living there with one laundry room to share between them.

Cllr Sansom, who represents Rickmansworth, said: “Housing so many people on that site will be an absolute disaster.

“The council cares more about profit than people’s lives – we have the money to build these people better homes.

“We have a problem with housing and that needs addressing, but this isn’t the answer – all this is doing is putting vulnerable people in a rubbish situation. Nobody is homeless out of their own choice and nobody wants to be in temporary accommodation for long; all of these people want stable, permanent homes.”

The council said the development, which will cost £1.2m, will save it £200,000 a year by reducing the number of homeless people it has to shelter in B&Bs. It also said the site will generate a profit of £140,000 a year but cllr Sansom is disputing this.

READ MORE: Up to 100 homeless people could move to Rickmansworth

He said: “The council say this will save it money, but judging by what these homes will be like, I doubt the homes will be full; nobody will want to live there long.

"The financial details that have been given to us seem a bit thin and sketchy.”

At a policy and resources committee meeting tonight, members will be urged to approve the plans. Other options include leaving the site as it is, selling the site for profit or building four permanent homes on it.

Cllr Sansom said Conservative councillors will be pushing for the last option.

“This isn’t that the Conservatives are against homeless people moving into the area, it is simply that the site is not suited to that many people”, he said.

“It would be much better to try and solve the housing crisis by building people good, permanent houses rather than continuing with these awful, short-sighted plans.”

Three Rivers District Council was contacted for a comment but had not replied by the time the paper went to print.