Affordability in countryside 'must be addressed'

A new report has suggested that rural villages will be populated only by wealthy people unless greater efforts are made to build cheaper homes.

The author of the publication Liberal Democrat MP Mathew Taylor stated that younger people now cannot afford to live in these areas, which may be of interest to those planning construction.

Moreover, it found, wages taken home by individuals in the countryside are on average not high enough for them to get on the property ladder.

And the government has to act quickly so that villages do not die and these towns are not ruined by poorly planned developments, Mr Taylor asserted.

He commented: "If we fail to build the affordable homes to enable the people who work in the countryside to live there we risk turning our villages into gated communities."

Just a small number of fresh properties could essentially make all the difference, the politician contended.

A recent report carried out by the Commission for Rural Communities found that one in five families in these areas are classed as poor.