AN MP has slammed Sanctuary Housing as dysfunctional, dismissive and unreliable.

Mark Francois, MP for Rayleigh and Wickford, revealed a decade of fury and complaints by residents in Parliament.

He said: “I have had a number of meetings with Sanctuary’s head of development with him repeatedly reading out a list of major housing developments that Sanctuary is either going to be involved with or to develop itself, hardly any of which ever come to fruition.

“Sanctuary absolutely assured me several years ago that, to make up its backlog, it would bid aggressively for the social housing component of three large developments in the Rochford Council area known as Hall Road in Rochford, Rawreth Lane/London Road in Rayleigh, and Malyons Farm in Hullbridge. In each of those instances, despite the company’s £4 billion of assets, it underbid and did not secure the RSL element of any of those developments, which would have represented well over 100 houses in each of the three cases. Basically these people talk a good game to your face, but then completely and utterly fail to put their money where their mouth is. That is totally unacceptable on their part.

“Moreover, Sanctuary has acquired, or sought to acquire, a number of high-profile brownfield sites across the district, which it has been promising to build on for years.

“However, in the vast majority of cases, it has not laid one brick on top of another to this day.”

A spokesman for the housing company said: “Sanctuary Housing and Rochford Council have successfully worked together for 12 years and share a deep long-term commitment to serve the people of Rochford.

“We are working together to build new homes, improve existing homes and promote sustainable communities. Sanctuary agreed to pay Rochford Council a sum of money if the sites of the new homes had planning permission but were not built out. Sanctuary and the council remain committed to building the homes that are needed within the local community.”

Sir David Amess, MP for Southend West, added: “As we look to build a new town somewhere in Essex, these are the last people we want to get their hands on anything we might pursue in meeting our housing needs.”