Affordable housing is the backbone of rural communities, get it right and it can support the social, economic and environmental needs of villages and market towns.   
Countryside Agency Archive

Breadcrumbs

Affordable Housing - The key to sustainable rural communities - 15 October 2003

Affordable housing is the backbone of rural communities, get it right and it can support the social, economic and environmental needs of villages and market towns. It is crucial that we tackle its acute shortage if we are serious about creating sustainable rural communities, according to Sir Ewen Cameron, chairman of the Countryside Agency.

Speaking at a rural housing conference in Devon today (Wednesday 15 October) Sir Ewen outlined some of the ways to address the pressing need of affordable housing provision: “Over the last few years low income families in rural England have found it harder and harder to live near their work, their families and their friends. The Countryside Agency has been promoting an alternative planning policy to change this situation.   It is now being adopted in the government's proposed revisions to PPG 3*; making it possible to allocate sites in rural communities solely for affordable housing is a major step forward.   We must act on this and use all the tools and good practice available. But to really succeed we must have the funding to meet housing needs in villages and market towns.   Regional Housing Strategies have a key role to play and must address rural housing needs. But all the strategies in the world are meaningless unless there are the resources to carry them through into action.

 

“There is much to be done, but our case is made stronger when we can show that we are using all available means to develop affordable rural housing for the people who really need it,” concluded Sir Ewen.

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Notes to editors

For further information please contact the Countryside Agency press office on 020 7340 2909/7/6

 

The Countryside Agency is the statutory body working to make the quality of life better for people in the countryside and the quality of the countryside better for everyone.

 

* Planning Policy Guidance 3 provides guidance on a range of issues relating to the provision of housing.