Rural Housing under the Spotlight
18/10/2007
Peak District Rural Housing Association organised the event at the Agricultural Business Centre in Bakewell so that councillors could find out more about its work.
Peak District RHA specialises in providing homes for local people in the national park and the surrounding rural areas.
“It was a very successful evening,” said Alison Clamp, secretary of the housing association, “It was the first time we have held an event like this and we had lots of positive feedback. We are now considering arranging something similar in the future.
“We are committed to working with local communities to help meet housing needs and also want to raise awareness of the lack of good quality, affordable accommodation in rural areas.
“Villages need a mixture of people of all backgrounds and ages
if they are to remain vibrant and sustainable but there is a real shortage of affordable homes in the Peak District and this can force people who have grown up here to move out of the area.”
Parish and district councillors from Derbyshire Dales and High Peak local authorities and Peak Park Board members were among around 80 guests who attended the event.
After a welcome by Rob Rowbotham, chairman of Peak District RHA, Alison Clamp outlined the association’s work and Rob Cogings, housing strategy officer at Derbyshire Dales District Council, gave the housing authority’s view on rural developments.
Peter Abbott, policing planning manager at the Peak District National Park Authority, explained the planner’s view.
Ed Willmot from Ashover Parish Council described how they worked with the housing association on a scheme in their village and how successful it was. Ashover was village of the year in 2006 and had a visit from Prince Charles who was impressed with the housing.
Cath Potter, a parish council representative on the Peak Park, had collected views from parish councils and relayed some of these to the meeting.
The open evening ended with questions and an open discussion with the topics under debate including the issue of NIMBYism and how to counter resistance to affordable housing provision in rural areas.
Peak District Rural Housing Association was set up in 1989 by a group of local people concerned that the growing number of holiday homes and rising house prices were forcing local people out of the housing market.
It manages more than 200 homes in the area and aims to develop around 20 new, affordable homes each year.
“We are committed to providing well-designed, high quality, homes that blend in with existing properties,” explained Alison.
“We specialise in small-scale developments, most of our schemes are made up of four to ten properties, and work very closely with parish councils to ensure that we meet a community’s specific needs.
“While provision of homes is a key area of our work, we also campaign to ensure that rural housing needs are met and share our expertise with other housing providers.”