Brain drain fear in call for cheaper housing across Shropshire
Cheaper housing must be provided in Shropshire in order to prevent a devastating brain drain.
The county's economy is in peril because workers cannot afford to live here, according to experts.
They say urgent action is needed to ensure people can afford to stay in Shropshire.
And they call for the trend for developers to target high-end buyers with estates of large detached houses to be reversed.
Shropshire planning policy manager Adrian Cooper said: "In qualitative terms, there has been a tendency for the type of housing to reflect the greatest marketability, which is for larger, detached properties.
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"However, Shropshire is acknowledged as having a low–wage economy and such housing is therefore often beyond the means of local employees and existing residents."
His report on the problem will be discussed by Shropshire Council, which will consider steps to force developers to provide lower cost housing.
It is a move backed by Shropshire Chamber of Commerce, whose chief executive Richard Sheenan said: "It is important to have a decent level of affordable housing not only in the main towns, but in support of the market towns where there are a lot of innovative businesses. Such businesses need to attract attract people with the right skill sets and we need the right properties to get them."
Self-build projects may become norm
Self-build homes may soon be on the rise under new plans being investigated by Shropshire Council.
The authority may soon include the need to provide self-build homes on developments of 10 or more properties where interest has been identified.
It comes as part of an initiative to increase the number of affordable homes across the county after its site allocations and managements of developments plan led to building more larger detached homes and not those that met local needs.
A report to scrutiny councillors on Thursday reveals future options – including utilising the authority’s own land – are being investigated following the positive interest in 48 self-build plots on six hectares of land at London Road in Shrewsbury.
Planning policy officer Adrian Cooper said: “As the number of people registering on our self-build register increases, there will be increasing demand on the local authority to provide serviced plots or facilitate the provision of plots on open market sites. We agreed the best way to provide more serviced plots is by utilising land in our ownership and we should have consideration of the need identified on the register when disposing of any of our assets.
“Our first site will be for 48 units on London Road, Shrewsbury.
“We may also seek a proportion of self-build plots on development sites of 10 dwellings or more, where there is an identified need for self-build. The number will depend on the level of need but will not exceed 10 per cent of the total dwellings. These will be in addition to the affordable provision. Self-build and custom-build plots will be sold with the benefit of outline planning permission and access and services to the boundary will be in place.”
Mr Cooper continued: “The council is committed to enabling the delivery of community-led affordable housing projects which empower communities to commission their own homes to meet local needs.
“We recognise this is an ambition for some communities and have developed an initiative to help parish councils, in partnership with a registered provider or developers, to develop homes local people want.”
