Press Release
Rural housing recommendations welcomed
18 May 2006
ACRE – Action with Communities in Rural England – welcomed the findings of the Affordable Rural Housing Commission that were released yesterday. As the umbrella organisation of 38 Rural Community Councils (RCCs) located throughout England, both ACRE and the network have been actively involved in rural-proofing government policy to ensure that the needs of local rural communities are adequately addressed. The work of the Commission has been of specific importance to ACRE, as housing has been a focus of activity throughout the network for many years.
Said ACRE’s Chief Executive, Sylvia Brown: “The report clearly identifies that affordable housing is a burning issue throughout rural areas in England. Both the current planning system and the attitudes of some local residents can be barriers to any solution. But local communities need confidence that support for small numbers of new housing, tailored to the needs of local people, can be achieved without opening the floodgates to over-development to satisfy the needs of urban expansion.”
“For many years, the rural housing enablers within ACRE’s network of RCCs have worked with individual communities to develop their own vision for their future. Parish plans and locally-run housing needs surveys are central to involving local residents in decision-making and overcoming the NIMBY attitudes highlighted in the report. But the work of rural housing enablers has to go hand-in-hand with a planning context that respects the resulting proposals and has both the power and the financial levers necessary to deliver the results. The proposals made in the Commission’s report are therefore welcomed.”
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