Breadcrumbs
Services and lifestyle profile
Generally the region's rural areas compare favourably with other regions in terms of geographical access to banks, post offices, supermarkets and secondary schools. However, the region's rural areas, ranked as lowest for all regions for accessiblity to petrol stations, second lowest for cash machines and third lowest for primary schools compared to other regions. Limited access to key services and public transport can prevent people living in more remote rural communities from realising their economic potential and contributes to social exclusion.
Rural housing problems are mainly focused on accessibility, affordability and quality. However, the extent to which these problems exist varies across the region. For example, access to affordable housing is an issue, particularly in the more accessible rural areas of the region (i.e. Tynedale and Alnwick), whereas the quality of rural housing stock is the main problem in the former mining and industrial communities such as Wear Valley. The region's rural housing market continues to lag behind the national average, despite the substantial increase of over 27% in average rural house prices between 2002 and 2003. At the same time, the gap between mortgage costs and earnings has widened indicating that rural housing is becoming less affordable overall.
The proportion of rural housing stock in the public sector fell by nearly 10% between 1997 and 2003, consequently rural households are increasingly dependent on private sector housing. New build housing in the region rarely includes social and general needs provision although some new, small-scale rural housing has been developed in the region (eg. Middleton in Teesdale and Barnard Castle).
Overall the region's rural areas have low levels of homelessness compared to the rest of rural England. However, the total number of the region's rural households accepted as homeless and in priority need has more than doubled, although there is considerable disparity between rural districts. The extent of rural homelessness, particularly amongst young people is very difficult to quantify, as rural homelessness does not always manifest itself as people sleeping rough.
The demand for second and holiday homes is particularly high in some coastal settlements within Berwick upon Tweed and Alnwick. This is placing considerable pressure on existing housing stock and may contribute to housing becoming highly priced. As a result there are fewer homes available for local people on modest incomes.
