Paice calls for action on rural housing
21st May 2009
Radical plans to tackle the chronic shortage of affordable rural housing will be outlined at the Devon County Show today by Shadow Agriculture and Rural Affairs Minister Jim Paice. The Conservative proposals will provide genuine local democratic control over the delivery of new housing, as well as significantly speeding up development. They will:
- Allow the creation of entirely new bodies – Local Housing Trusts - with new freedom to develop homes for local people, as long as there is strong community backing
- Abolish the unsuccessful regional planning system and the counterproductive regional housing targets
- Incentivise new house-building by matching local authorities’ council tax take for each new house built for six years – with special incentives for affordable housing
- Relax the rules that prevent thousands of habitable empty properties being used to house those on local authority waiting lists
Speaking at the ARC-Addington Fund reception, Mr Paice will say:
“The chronic shortage of affordable rural housing is threatening traditional village life by driving thousands of young people out of the areas in which they grew up. Many rural communities are keen to provide more housing for local people and the Conservatives will enable them to do so.
“If a village wishes to propose its own expansion then it should be able to enjoy powers to provide itself with the planning permission required, subject to the agreement of local people. This will provide genuine local democratic control over the delivery of new housing, as well as significantly speeding up development.”