The way to provide more affordable homes might be to ask developers to build fewer of them Teignbridge Council has said.

Latest figures released by the authority show that with more than 4,000 people on the waiting list the number of new homes being built is not only failing to meet demand, but the council's own targets.

Last year just 313 new homes went up, the goal was 500.

The authority's demand that 40 per cent of the total should be affordable could have resulted in up to 200 homes for families on the register.

Only 81 were built.

Now the council has said demanding a lower percentage could provide developers the financial incentive they need to get building.

Deputy chief executive Phil Shears said: 'It is challenging but I don't think it's just a Teignbridge issue.

'Look across the [district] borders and they're struggling with the developments at Sherford, they're struggling with Cranbrook. These are new communities with millions of pounds of government funding going in but they're still struggling.'

Speaking about proposals to build almost 900 homes on sites in Dawlish and Kingsteignton, where developers are offering to make just ten per cent affordable, he said: 'Obviously there is a concern about the amount of affordable homes being delivered and we want to see 40 per cent.

'But we have to consider that if we go to an appeal situation and the developer can prove that the projects would not be viable then holding out for 40 per cent of nothing isn't beneficial to anybody.'

He said one solution could be to allow developers to 'phase' projects, starting with lower percentages of affordable homes in a bid to generate the profit needed to fund later phases with more affordable homes.

Head of the council's planning department, Steve Robinson, said the authority was now demanding independent viability tests on all major projects to help determine the affordable percentage and that talks were being held with consultants and other local authorities to find a way through the housing crisis.

'It's high on the agenda in Devon and we're all trying to work together to see how we can overcome the problem,' he said.

'We are working on it from three different fronts but we do appreciate we may have to lower the provision of affordable housing.'

Councillors are due to discuss the matter in Forde House on Tuesday. Other failed targets, which amount to 37 per cent of the total, include the time it takes to consider planning applications and the number of planning appeals lost to developers.

Mr Shears defended the council's record, saying the authority was generally performing ahead of government expectations.

'We've met or exceeded 63 per cent of our corporate indicators... and we try to set ourselves stretching targets that measure improvements people can see,' he said.

'We're happy with the figure we've got, although we're not complacent about it, and we've just been independently judged the second best improving council in the country.

'We're also ranked fourteenth highest for resident satisfaction so we think we're moving in the right direction.'