Build more rural housing ‘or Shropshire’s villages will die’
Wednesday 14th July 2010, 8:37AM BST.
More affordable housing must be built in Shropshire’s villages or else they will “die”, the leader of a campaign group warned today.
Andy Boddington, chairman of the county branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said it was vital new homes were built in villages for young people who worked or grew up there. Village housing at the moment often went to the retired wealthy or for holiday homes, he said.
He made the comments in response to a new report by the National Housing Federation, CPRE and other countryside groups.
Mr Boddington said: “We have a choice. Build affordable housing in villages or let those villages die.
“If we are to have a beautiful countryside, it must thrive. For it to thrive, people need to work in the landscape to keep its pubs, shops and above all its schools alive.
“We have a growing problem here in Shropshire with village housing being taken up by the wealthy retired and second home owners, or rented out as holiday cottages.
“We need places to live for the people who work in our pubs, staff our post offices and teach in our schools. We must build small scale affordable housing for them.
“Affordable housing need not damage the beauty and tranquillity of the countryside. What we need is small developments of affordable housing near to where people work. We need developments that are sympathetically tucked into the folds of rural landscape and in tune with local building styles.”
Mr Boddington said there needed to be an overhaul of the way affordable housing was provided in Shropshire.
He said: “Our greatest worry is that affordable housing is often only funded through contributions from developers who want to build sprawling estates of market housing.
“We need new models of house building such as Community Land Trusts. That way we can get the affordable housing we need without destroying Shropshire’s greatest asset, the natural and historic environment.”
The report, Affordable Housing Keeps Villages Alive, is published by the National Housing Federation, Campaign to Protect Rural England, Countryside Alliance, Commission for Rural Communities and Action with Communities in Rural England.
By Russell Roberts
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Affordable housing is of course needed but it can bring big problems to under resourced villages / small towns if not planned correctly.
Coincidently, since a recent development was finished in Cleobury Mortimer the amount of noise, selfish parking and anti social behaviour has increased dramatically.
Pub noise particularly has been an issue with many residents having to wade through clouds of smoke and bodies when walking around the town.
Local Police are ridiculously under resourced, with just a handful of officers having to cover a hugh area of Shropshire. This gives the undesirable element of new arrivals carte blanch to behave however they wish, with little possibility of being challenged.
The town was already struggling to cope with an influx of people and I hear that another 500 homes are to be built over the next 5 years.
Rural expansion needs to be re-thought and only continue if adequate measures are put in place before hand.
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One of the best things that could be done to keep the villages alive in our area would be to stop the redevelopment of the ABP plant at Hordley and encourage it to be relocated to a more appropriate industrial area. Lots of large lorries and a considerable number of cars for the employees racing through our villages blights all our lives. Many of these villages have narrow, almost single track roads with no pavements, so it is dangerous to go out and walk and stops our children being able play.
Building more housing in these villages would only add to this problem unless something can be done to stop large industry running roughshod and devastating local communities.
Maybe the land at Hordley could be sold to developers and redeveloped as rural and affordable housing?
CPRE, you need to take a closer look at how our villages can be helped by your campaigns.
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Nice sentiment I’m sure but completely pointless. The reason being that the second the NIMBY’s get a whiff of any sort of development near them, its “all hands to the placards” & letters to the MP! Look at Much Wenlock for example, protested against new homes then started crying when the bank closed from lack of business!
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With respect to many who are against affordable homes many have little understanding what an affordable home is.
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Communities, particularly those in rural areas need to be engaged and collaborate. Mixed tenure, if well planned and throught out can have real value.
We work with Bournville Village Trust and they are in the process of completeing a new development at Lightmoor near Telford. Whilst not truly rural, it demonstartes how a mixed tenusre village can be achieved with harmony, shared resource and a real sense of community.
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I also believe if many Houseing association allowed all tennents to buy into the property over years an idea once muted by the labour party, on the small developemnets of around 12 homes we would not have this unfounded fear that the 2 houses over there will be scruffy it is not true , go on any private estate and down every road you will find a scruffy home.From what I understand the torys are to allow many houseing association tennents to move on in to buy or private rent by giving 10% value of the home they rent ffreeing the house up for the low paid . Statistics say 40% of people in council or association homes are well paid and could move on to buy or rent but there is no incentive to do so. What we must not do is stop people from bettering there income by saying they may lose there home . IT all needs a long hard look at and all iews taken in to account . But as I have said I think many do not no what an affordable home is , but these people need to no we do not build council estates any more we have normal developemts with a small number of affordable homes incorporated and so they should be to.
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…and let’s remember that 41% of ALL businesses START AT HOME nowadays – we should stop seeing housing as demonic blots on the landscape and consider the positive impact to the economy supplied by the emergence of new neighbourhoods
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