Housing shortage causing decline of village life
Jun 22 2009 by Sara Nichol, The Journal
The National Housing Federation said the mass closures reflected a declining demand in services in villages where local families – the core customer base – had been priced out of the area by an influx of wealthy commuters and second home owners.
The Federation also claimed that rural house prices tend to be well above the national average, while rural incomes tend to be well below, leaving an affordability gap that has widened rather than narrowed in the last five years.
The gentrification of the countryside and chronic shortage of affordable homes have also made it increasingly difficult for pubs and shops to find workers who can afford to live locally and survive on modest wages.
Monica Burns, the North East manager of the National Housing Federation, said: “Many of the region’s villages are in real danger of losing their unique identity as pubs and shops are often the heart of these rural communities.
“Unless we build more affordable homes for local people, they will continue to be priced out of rural areas and the shops and pubs they support will vanish with them.”
But the Housing and Communities Agency has provided a glimmer of hope for the struggling rural businesses, by outlining work they are planning to do to provide affordable homes.
Pat Ritchie, regional director for the HCA, said “Rural Communities have particular problems with affordability of existing houses and finding appropriate sites for new buildings.
“We are working in rural areas to develop small scale approaches to sustainable development that maintains the character of rural communities. A good example of this is our recent work with the Holy Island Community Land Trust to help bring forward new homes specifically for local people.”
Dr Nic Best, regional policy officer for the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: “CPRE has always recognised that countryside needs to be living countryside as well as protected countryside so it needs living viable communities in it. That means that rural villages need to be alive and have people living there so that means they need affordable housing in them.
“We need affordable housing in rural villages and we are keen to see that happen, that would be alongside other facilities which would keep the village sustainable.
“We want to see, as the housing federation are saying, the pubs, the shops, the bus services, the health clinics, small schools all viable as well.
“The affordable housing has to be proportionate to the size of the village and meeting the local needs.”
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