Save Our Villages

Community Lincs is backing a campaign from the National Housing Federation for more affordable rural housing. 

England’s countryside is in crisis.  Housing in rural areas is more expensive than in cities and towns, and often way beyond the means of many local residents. Lincolnshire is no exception. 

With many lower income earners and young people priced out of their home villages, there are concerns that rural England is becoming the preserve of the wealthy and the isolated elderly.   

The campaign seeks to halt this decline. A three-step plan can ensure that housing need is understood and dealt with at a local level, providing mixed, sustainable and working villages: 

• Every local authority should have an up to date assessment of housing need for rural wards.
   
• Authorities should publish a rural housing action plan to show how they will meet that need.
   
• To ensure the rural housing crisis is addressed not just now but also for future generations, assessment and action planning should be repeated every three years. 

Katie May, Rural Housing Enabler at Community Lincs said “the campaign makes so much sense. Throughout rural Lincolnshire shops, pubs, schools, Post Offices and other vital services are closing. Yet if we could only provide enough affordable housing to meet local needs, the population to sustain these businesses could be restored. Local people shouldn’t be forced out of their communities and with the help of Lincolnshire’s local authorities we can ensure that this doesn’t happen.” 

The campaign is gaining ground. Already affordable housing is becoming an election issue and the public can play their part too. More details about the campaign are available at www.housing.org.uk where people can add their names to the supporters’ map, lobby their MP and join the Save Our Villages face book group.