New Support for Rural Housing

Published in Buxton Advertiser on Tue 7th Sep 2010

MPs and rural local authorities across the East Midlands have given their support to a campaign aiming to tackle the shortage of affordable housing in the countryside. A new House of Commons motion backing the National Housing Federation's Save our villages campaign, which highlights the shortfall of affordable homes in rural areas has so far been signed by 32 MPs from around the country, also highlights the number of young people and lower income earners being priced out of their home villages and the knock-on effect this can have on local services.

The Federation wants councils to commit to researching the true level of housing need in rural areas and to publish an action plan to show how that shortfall will be dealt with. Derbyshire Dales District Council has already backed the Federation's campaign.

In rural parts of the East Midlands region, there are 47,878 households waiting for an affordable home.

Neil Griffiths, of the National Housing Federation said: "If young people and families are priced away, there is a real danger the local shops and services they support will disappear with them. It is in everybody's interest that we make sure there are a sufficient number of affordable homes in the countryside to keep it thriving.

"The first thing we must do is find out the true level of need for affordable housing. Local authorities should make sure they fully understand need in each of their rural areas, and follow this up with a housing action plan.

"Tackling the housing shortage in the countryside will often mean just a handful of homes for each village where they are needed. The alternative is that we risk our villages falling into terminal decline as local residents can no longer afford to live there."