Land appeal for affordable new housing in countryside made by Council for the Protection of Rural England

Land appeal for affordable new housing in countryside made by Council for the Protection of Rural England

Following their Rural Affordable Housing Conference, CPRE Hampshire is asking businesses or families with land to consider working with housing associations and community charities to provide affordable land for affordable homes. Dee Haas, chairman, said: "It may be viewed with some surprise that a charity such as CPRE Hampshire, an organisation striving to protect and preserve our beautiful countryside, would be thinking about how to better support rural affordable housing. However, we feel this is something that should be important to us all. Our rural communities are facing a real crisis, with schools, pubs, post offices, shops and rural facilities closing down. We are out pricing all but the very few from our rural communities, often building the wrong kind of homes that don’t meet the needs of local people – be this an older couple looking to downsize, or a young family starting out." CPRE Hampshire held a Rural Affordable Housing Conference recently which highlighted issues facing parishes when trying to provide affordable homes for people in the countryside.