Landowners ready to help rural housing crisis
28/11/05

A prosperous and vibrant countryside depends on people. It might sound obvious, but it's becoming increasingly difficult for people to do just that. And especially young people, with families, key workers, the very people who make life in rural villages, market towns, and the countryside so vibrant.

They are the ones who use the village schools, and work and live in the community. They contribute hugely to the economy, culture, and language. But generally they are being priced out - often from the very areas where they have been born. They simply can't afford to stay in the villages and hamlets where they were brought up.

CLA Wales policy advisor Sue Evans says landowners are ready and willing to help address the rural housing crisis, but they do need a financial incentive. She has called on the Welsh Assembly Government to introduce a new housing policy involving 'exception sites' to encourage landowners to release land for sustainable affordable housing in the Welsh countryside.

CLA Wales is urging the Welsh Assembly Government to adopt a distinctive policy, introducing a spark of innovation, to ensure there is an adequate supply of affordable housing for local workers. It wants an imaginative policy on Rural Affordable Housing and Exception Sites.

"We believe that a new policy tailored for the particular circumstances of rural Wales, involving an incentive by an element of open market housing is, on all the evidence, a compelling argument", added Sue. "We suggest that planning consent for a single open market dwelling could be an appropriate incentive for subsidised provision of, say, land for two affordable dwellings".

She said the public would also benefit from the fact that landowners would have to pay Capital Gains Tax on any land value gains. And the local community would benefit long term from capital being ploughed back into rural businesses.

Sue Evans applauded moves in Powys, where 10% of the council's annual housing grant would be needed simply to replace the 249 houses sold in 2003-4 under 'right to buy'. She added that she was encouraged by their apparent intention to allow abandoned dwellings in the countryside to be replaced.

But she urged the authority not to be too restrictive in its criteria. Many of the buildings would have lacked the basic amenities we now take for granted, such as indoor toilets and bathrooms. There had to be some provision in the criteria for the way in which modern life has progressed!

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