CPRE analysis of MHCLG data out today (24th Jan) shows it would take 130 years to house those on rural council waiting lists, given the current rate at which new social housing is being built in rural areas. To CPRE, that evident lack of focus fuels fears of a “particular crisis” amid deep concern that communities in market towns and villages across the country are being forgotten by central government. Now, CPRE is calling for further substantial investment in social housebuilding for rural areas from the government, with a proportion of grant funding for use in rural areas to be ring-fenced in line with the proportion of the population living there. “As social housing waiting lists continue to rise right across the country, it is clear that councils are not able to build enough to meet anyone’s needs,” said CPRE research and policy advisor Lois Lane. She added: “But our analysis shows a clear disparity in focus and funding that has left a large number of rural communities suffering silently, and in real danger of being left behind.” The MHCLG data shows there are now 173,584 families on the waiting list for social housing in rural councils. Yet last year, just 1,336 homes for social rent were built in those councils’ areas. “There is a misconception that people living in the countryside don’t feel the effects of the housing crisis, but that couldn’t be further than the truth,” said Lane. She added: “Average house prices are higher and wages lower than in major towns and cities, and the continued failure to build enough social homes has actually made the situation especially challenging in rural communities.” In its response to the stats, the CLA says the potential of farmland still ignored in rural housing crisis. The MHCLG data shows that despite a 17% increase in the total amount of new affordable homes built in small rural communities across England last year, 143 fewer homes were built on Rural Exception Sites – land which is not usually granted planning permission but where affordable development is allowed. The CLA believes that if Rural Exception Sites are not used to their full potential there is little hope of solving the acute shortage of rural housing. “Rural Exception Sites are a key means of providing affordable homes in rural areas where a landowner provides land at below market value to build affordable homes for local people,” said CLA President Tim Breitmeyer. “However, the latest figures show how drastically underused they are. “Our own report into making villages sustainable for the future set out ways to ensure local authorities use all the mechanisms available to deliver new rural affordable homes “They must be proactive in order to breathe new life into our rural communities and help to solve the rural housing crisis,” he said. To encourage the building of much needed affordable homes in rural areas, the CLA has called on the government and local authorities to:
The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has called for better use to be made of Rural Exception Sites to build urgently needed homes, after Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government data revealed it will take 133 years to house people on rural waiting lists. CPRE has urged grant funding to be ring fenced in proportion to resident numbers, and said the failure to build more social housing in rural regions had compounded an already challenging situation.