Housing shortage causing decline of village life

Jun 22 2009 by Sara Nichol, The Journal

A CHRONIC shortage of affordable housing in rural areas is plunging traditional village life into terminal decline, according to a new report.

The National Housing Federation claims that many village shops and pubs in the North East will be forced to close down unless action is taken to address the lack of new, affordable homes.

Nationally, it is thought up to 650 country pubs and 400 village shops will shut during the next 12 months, according to a coalition of leading campaign groups.

Now, the National Housing Federation has joined forces with the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) and the Rural Shops Alliance (RSA) to highlight the alarming number of shops and pubs closing down in rural areas and are calling for urgent action to be taken to halt the demise of the countryside.

Richard Dodd, North East spokesperson for the Countryside Alliance, blamed the lack of affordable housing on the intense difficulty to gain planning permission in rural Northumberland and County Durham.

He said: “Unless the countryside gets a bigger population, a balanced population, then these pubs and shops will close and will continue to do so.

“Everywhere you seem to go in the countryside now, you are not allowed to build housing. No one is allowed to build and gaining planning permission is nearly impossible without a lot of fuss. Without that permission, there just isn’t the affordable housing the countryside so desperately needs.

“I hear there are plans to build 1,700 homes in Cramlington. Those homes are not going to make any difference to Cramlington but they would make a huge difference to a rural area, which is where they are needed.

“Properties in the countryside are very expensive and you generally find it is people who have recently moved to the countryside from the towns that put up the biggest opposition to building more homes.

“A lot of pubs in rural areas just can’t get staff because the wages are low and people can’t afford to live in the country on those wages, so they move to the towns. It’s an impossible cycle that needs to be addressed.”

Across Britain, the BBPA estimates 54 country pubs could close within a month if current trends continue, while the RSA forecasts 33 village shops a month could go bust.