THE war of words between Bromsgrove council and Shelter has continued after the homelessness charity's latest report stated 43 district children will be homeless this Christmas.

A new report by the charity revealed 4,828 children in the West Midlands will wake up homeless and in temporary accommodation on Christmas – including 43 in Bromsgrove.

But that figure has sparked anger from councillor Kit Taylor, portfolio holder for housing, who blasted the stat as incorrect and accused the charity of “scaremongering”.

It is not the first time the council has taken issue with Shelter, after the charity was accused of misleading the public for describing Bromsgrove as a ‘homelessness hotspot’ last year.

Cllr Taylor said: “As a charity, Shelter does some good work nationally, but they are behaving irresponsibly by publishing data about Bromsgrove that’s factually incorrect.

“If they’d contacted us instead of guessing, they’d find out that we actually have no children in bed and breakfast or hostel accommodation at the moment.

“We do have some homeless families safely housed in temporary tenancies in Bromsgrove, but none in B&Bs or hostels, so Shelter should stop scaremongering.”

The ‘homelessness hotspot’ report was the subject of a cabinet meeting at council last year, with cllr Taylor saying both he and colleagues were left “flabbergasted” at the label.

In their latest report, Shelter said one in every 111 children in Britain is currently homeless, meaning around 128,000 children will wake up homeless on Christmas Day.

The figures are based on the latest government statistics on homelessness from the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Shelter Birmingham Hub manager Vicky Hines said: “It’s a national scandal that the number of homeless children in Britain has risen every year for the last decade.

“No child should have to spend Christmas without a home - let alone almost 5,000 children in West Midlands.

“Many of us will spend Christmas day enjoying all of the festive traditions we cherish, but sadly it’ll be a different story for those children hidden away in cramped B&Bs or hostel rooms.”