THE recession is limiting the supply of affordable rural housing.

Fewer affordable homes are being developed and some social housing developments have been mothballed.

But strong demand means house prices on the open market continue to be out of reach for many rural residents.

The environment in which housing and planning operates has changed significantly over the past six months.

A challenging economic climate had contributed to a slower rate of housing supply, warned the Commission for Rural Communities.

Set alongside strong housing demand, this had created significant pressure on the supply of affordable and market housing developments.

Pressure is likely to become more acute over the next 20 years, the commission warned in its latest State of the Countryside Update on Housing Supply and Demand.

It expects demand for new housing as a result of projected household change to grow at a greater rate in rural districts than in urban districts between 2006 and 2031.

Urban districts will grow by 27% over that period whilst rural districts will grow by 35%, the report forecasts.

Some 356,000 new households will be added every five years in predominantly rural districts between 2006 and 2031, it predicts.

The analysis provides further evidence that housing supply is not evenly distributed within rural districts.

Instead, developments tend to be concentrated in larger settlements.

"Rural towns and villages are growing faster in their resident population than their urban counterparts and average population growth as a whole," said a commission spokesman.

"To accommodate new growth in our rural towns and villages rural communities should be at the heart of community led planning."

This would deliver housing that better met local needs.

"We believe that growth, if well managed, will foster more viable local services, more affordable and well designed housing, and appropriate economic development."

In many respects, England’s rural communities were already leading the way in utilising new technologies, with new businesses start ups often commencing at the home.

But this was not happening everywhere.

Evidence confirmed vulnerable people in rural society often suffered from a lack of housing.

"Young people, especially young families, and those working in rural areas for relatively low wages, are often the first to be priced out of their own rural communities.

"Losing these groups from rural society undermines the sustainability of many rural villages and towns as essential friend and family network scan be lost or disrupted."

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