The South East England Regional Housing Board said centralised government policies aimed at providing more affordable homes could have the opposite effect.

More money is needed to build homes

Board chairman Elizabeth Cartwright said: “Ultimately, the main barrier to delivering rural affordable housing in the region is the lack of Government funding.”

She added: “Government should not make the issue worse by setting unrealistic targets and tying local authority hands with reams of planning guidance."

The board issued its warning in its response to the Taylor Review, the government-sponsored inquiry examining ways to increase affordable rural housing.

Lib-Dem MP Matthew Taylor, who is heading the inquiry, is expected to submit his recommendations to Prime Minister Gordon Brown this summer.

The board said prescriptive government guidance could hamper the ability of local authorities to develop planning policies suited to their own circumstances.

Local authorities should be given more support to ensure effective outcomes when negotiating contributions made by developers to affordable housing, it added.

Community involvement was also vital for the success of rural schemes, according to the board’s submission.

Parish councils and local communities should be involved in plans to understand the benefits of affordable housing, it said.

But a lack of funding was the most serious issue threat to the “ambitious national target” of creating 10,000 affordable homes in small rural villages by 2011.

More government money, rather than cutbacks, was needed to meet the affordable housing needs of rural people in south-east England,

The withdrawal of funding for rural housing enablers – key people who help to deliver rural affordable housing - could especially put proposed schemes at risk.

                  See also:
                                • Landowners in plea to convert buildings (7 April 2008)
                                • Brown 'to propose cheap rural homes' (31 March 2008)
                                • Government defends record on housing (27 February 2008)
                                • Appeal for evidence on rural housing (18 February 2008)
                                • Warning over affordable rural homes (23 November 2007)
                                • Get tough on second homes, PM told (18 November 2007)
                                • Call to boost affordable rural homes (18 October 2007)
                                • £10.2bn boost for affordable homes (16 October 2007)
                                • Watchdog welcomes housing pledge (13 July 2007)
                                • Civil servants debate housing crisis (11 July 2007)
                                • Councils 'could provide more homes (3 July 2007)
                                • PM Brown says homes are priority (27 June 2007)
                                • Pressure builds over rural housing (8 June 2007)

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