Bid to boost affordable housing in the Stratford district

THE crisis over affordable housing in the Stratford district has reached such a peak that the local council is considering the possibility of setting up a company to provide these homes.

The idea is part of a bid to enable houses to be built, in an increasingly expensive part of the country, which people on lower incomes can actually afford.

Last week Stratford-on-Avon District Council’s overview and scrutiny committee agreed that the suggestion of establishing an “at arm’s length” company should be investigated in an attempt to find a solution to the escalating problem.

The man who has come up with this idea is Stratford district councillor Mark Cargill (Cons, Bidford West and Salford). In a paper prepared for the committee Cllr Cargill said: “We live in a very rural area where people want to and like to live – which is great. We cannot however provide for the low paid members of our society.

“We have been set targets for industrial growth in the core strategy but may be unable to provide affordable accommodation to meet their needs. People will therefore have to travel and that is unsustainable. It seems a bit of a mess.”

Cllr Cargill said that the district council was now seeing an increasing number of planning applications where developers’ provision of affordable housing was in doubt.

He said that most of the larger housing associations – including Orbit and Stonewater – were effectively refusing to take on small affordable schemes. “We do not as yet have an exact figure of what is ‘small’; however, anything less than 24 seems to be not viable to the housing associations,” he said.

For the full story see the current issue of the Stratford Herald.