Rural retreat

The Commission for Rural Communities’ State of the countryside: housing demand and supply update highlights that an average of 356,000 new households will be added every five years to predominantly rural districts between 2006 and 2031. Around 70,000 new homes will be needed each year, so how will they get built?

The route to building houses in rural areas is tortuous. Even passionate advocates of completed small rural housing schemes admit to pained relief. So how can rural housing needs be met?

The single strategy for each region must include a positive prospect for rural areas by allocating sufficient numbers of houses to be built in the right places to stimulate sustainable rural communities.

Too often affordable housing is only provided through departures to the local development framework (local plan) or on exception sites (which can only be used for affordable housing). Local planners need to include affordable housing as a positive step towards shaping local environments.

The Homes and Communities Agency is the major public sector investor in the provision of affordable housing and needs to rural-proof its investment programmes to ensure that rural areas are fairly treated.

Too often affordable housing is talked about in isolation rather than as a component of a sustainable future for a community (shop, school or post office remain open). New housing brings new energy to rural areas and can help reverse the loss of young people. Allocation policies need to enable local people who want to stay local to do so.

There is a real value in the key players coming together to generate solutions. Local residents can share views about the need for affordable housing in their community rather than rallying for or against a particular proposed site.

Imagine a local authority planning office with a large counter which records each time an affordable scheme is completed and a build target of two years from start to finish with all of the community onside.

Good design, layout and eco-performance of homes are the oil on the supply wheels. Good design engenders support from the wider community and value for residents.

There is always scope for innovation and new ideas. For example, 40 per cent of rural businesses are home-based and a third of all people who work from home are located in rural areas. So where is the innovation in building ‘live-work’ houses?

The provision of affordable housing is about people - young and old, locals and new residents - being able to live, work and grow up in rural communities. This should provide the motivation for building the houses - more so than abstract numbers or cautious planning policies.

Graham Russell is executive director of the Commission for Rural Communities

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