Major campaign highlights people priced out of their home villages

A House of Commons motion has been put forward backing the National Housing Federation's Save our villages campaign.

The motion, which 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 is also asking local councils to back its campaign.

It 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.

So far, only Horsham District Council has pledged its support from within West Sussex.

Throughout the South East region the average house price is around 267,573, more than 12 times the average wage.

In rural areas that gap becomes even worse, with the average home costing over 14 times local incomes. In rural parts of the South East region, there are 49,892 households waiting for an affordable home.

A recent survey on rural housing, commissioned by the National Housing Federation, revealed the scale of the rural housing crisis facing the South East '“ and the concerns of people living in the countryside over high house prices, service closures and second homes.

It found that 64 per cent of rural dwellers in the South East thought there was a shortage of affordable homes for local people in their village, with a large majority (70 per cent) saying they would support a small number of affordable homes being built for local people in their local area.

A quarter of rural dwellers in the region said key services like village shops, post offices and pubs have declined over the last five years '“ fuelling fears that traditional village life is now in terminal decline.

Questioned on the thorny issue of holiday homes a quarter said second home owners had a negative impact on community life '“ with just six per cent saying it made a positive contribution.

The Federation, which represents England's housing associations, said the results of the poll reflected growing fears that many rural communities were now in terminal decline and called on more affordable homes to be built for young people.

Warren Finney, South East Regional Manager for the National Housing Federation said: 'If young people and families continue to be priced out of the South East's villages and market towns there's a real risk that we'll see these communities dying out as the local shops and services disappear.

"It is really critical that we ensure that these areas are made up of mixed, working communities and it's in everybody's interest that we make sure there are a sufficient number of affordable homes in the countryside to keep it thriving.

'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.'