A council has said it will not snap up a property set to be used by the Home Office to house asylum seekers.

Wates House in Fareham is on the market with former home secretary Suella Braverman, MP for the area, urging the borough council to buy it.

The MP for Fareham and Waterlooville launched a petition calling on the authority to purchase the building, saying the move would be "unacceptable".

She said: "Fareham Borough Council should act urgently to purchase or lease the property and use it to accommodate those on our local housing waiting list.

"Local people must come first."

But now the borough council has said it will not buy the building, saying it must use its limited housing budget elsewhere.

A council statement said the authority wanted to "clarify the facts amid a swirl of misinformation".

The council had previously set out to buy the building n 2024 but withdrew based on a surveyor's report that the council said ruled the building was "not currently safe to occupy".

A spokesperson said the authority only needed the building when it had more than 70 households living in B&Bs, but this had now reduced to less than 15 - with plans in place to cut this further through buying other places, including Birks in the town centre.

They added: "If the council was to purchase Wates House, it would only be suitable to meet the needs of two households on the ‘higher’ band Waiting List. 

"The two-bedroom flats would potentially be difficult to match to households on the Housing Waiting List as the small size of the flats limits them to a maximum of three occupants.

"Fareham Housing needs larger family homes, and homes that are suitable for disabled occupants, to have a real impact on the urgent and high need on the housing waiting list and Wates House is not suitable for either.   

"The council also does not hold sufficient capital funds within the Housing Revenue Account to secure the purchase and would likely have to rely on extensive debt to purchase the site that would likely take in excess of 40 years to repay.  

"In conclusion, the purchase of Wates House by the Council would neither support the households most in need in Fareham nor represent good value for money.  

"The council is therefore continuing to focus the use of its limited housing funds and borrowing capacity on providing the right social housing in the right places.

"There is a significant shortage of properties available in the private rented sector, and the council considers Wates House as a positive addition in the town centre to address that shortage. Clearly that would be a decision for the owner."