Affordable Shropshire rural homes in the spotlight

Members of around 30 parish councils attended two roadshow events hosted by Shropshire Housing Group to put the spotlight on existing successful schemes and demonstrate to parish councillors and others the benefits of building rural homes that can help young families remain in their communities.

Staff from the group, which includes South Shropshire Housing Association and Meres & Mosses Housing Association, talked visitors through nine existing rural affordable housing sites and shared testimonials from the parish councils and tenants who have benefited from them.

The events, at Soulton Hall, in Wem, and Ludlow Food Centre, Bromfield, were tied-in to the national Rural Housing Week initiative, led by the National Housing Federation.

Shropshire Housing Group's executive director for assets and development, Paul Sutton, said: “We were very pleased with how many people came along to find out more about why the development of affordable homes is crucial to many rural areas. As far as we can we need to fend off the risk that young people cannot afford to live in the communities they grew up in because of escalating house prices and difficulties in securing mortgages in the current climate.

“Affordable homes in rural areas address this problem by providing homes for people with a local connection to rent or part buy on a shared ownership basis. This in turn makes a real difference to the viability of village services. I think many people took the messages on board and I hope it means that such schemes will be viewed in a positive light by parish councils and the residents they represent in the future.”

Any councillors who were unable to attend the events have been extended an open invitation to contact Shropshire Housing Group's development team at any time to obtain information and talk through the issues. The team can be contacted by calling 0300 303 1190.