Report calling for fundamental shake-up of planning and affordable housing policy in rural areas welcomed

Wednesday 23 July 2008       57/08

A report launched today calling for a fundamental shake-up of planning and affordable housing policy in rural areas has been welcomed by the Housing Corporation.

Launched by Housing Minister Caroline Flint, Living Working Countryside is the independent review by Matthew Taylor, MP for Truro and St Austell, who was commissioned by the Prime Minister to conduct a review on how land use and planning can better support rural business and deliver affordable housing.

The review found that the high cost of homes coupled with the low wages of rural workers is creating unsustainable pressures that threaten the future of rural communities. It also found that with the flight from cities to the countryside (the rural population has grown by 800,000 people in the last decade, twice the rate of urban areas) driving up house prices, young families are being priced out of the communities in which they work.

Welcoming the review, Andrew Wiles Housing Corporation Field Director (South West) said, "The Housing Corporation welcomes this clear, thought-provoking report. As Matthew Taylor acknowledges, the Corporation will increase the number of homes we fund in rural areas through its 2008-11 investment programme.

"In the short term, what is most important is that our key rural partners, including local authorities and housing associations, maximise their efforts to take advantage of the funding opportunity now available. For good schemes, our approach will be first come, first served."

Copies of Living, Working Countryside are available from www.communities.gov.uk

Ends.

For further information, please contact Sandra White on 020 7393 2094

Notes to Editors:

1) The Housing Corporation is responsible for regulating housing associations, which provide more than two million homes across England. 

2) The Housing Corporation is the Government's national affordable homes agency, responsible for investing in new affordable homes and regulating nearly 2,000 housing associations across England. The Corporation's £8.4 billion investment programme for 2008-11 is its biggest ever. Its previous investment programme of £3.9 billion for 2006-08 funded 92,752 homes; 52,929 of these for affordable rent, and 39,823 for affordable sale through the Government's HomeBuy initiatives, helping people to get a foot on the property ladder.

3) The Housing Corporation is working with English Partnerships and Communities and Local Government to establish the proposed Homes and Communities Agency and Tenant Services Authority.