Self build co-operatives suggested

A resident of a rural Welsh area has suggested that locals form together into self build co-operatives to constrict their own homes in order to get on the housing ladder.

Colin Evans, a bus driver who lives in the village of Llanrhystud in Ceredigion, told the BBC affordability was a major problem in the area, with even professionals on high incomes struggling to afford a house purchase.

He said he is renting out a house he owns in Aberystwyth to a doctor who is unable to get on the housing ladder and commented: "If professional people can't afford mortgages then how can a person on an average wage be expected to?"

The suggestion that self build could be a solution to the affordability problems of rural Wales may be particularly pertinent in the light of a report released today by the Jospeh Rowntree Trust.

It warned that a "generation of young people" could be lost from the region if housing issues were not tackled.