Right-to-buy extension 'will hit rural areas'
Rural areas will suffer under Government plans to extend the right-to-buy to cover social housing, campaigners have warned.
Organisations including the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), the County Land and Business Association (CLA) and the National Parks Association have expressed concerns about the proposal.
The policy looks set to be implemented on a voluntary basis by housing associations under a proposal put forward by the National Housing Federation.
The plan would mean that there would be a presumption in favour of sale in most circumstances but housing associations would retain some discretion.
But the rural groups called for a complete exemption for countryside areas, warning that vital affordable housing would not be replaced if it was sold.
The organisations, also including the Hastoe Housing Group, National Association of Local Councils, Action with Communities in Rural England, Lincolnshire Rural Housing Association, Exmoor National Park, and the Rural Services Network, said a "portable discount" offered to tenants would not help rural areas.
They also warned landowners would be reluctant to offer land for social housing if there are no guarantees it will remain affordable and not be sold on within a few years.
The groups said that only 8% of rural housing was classed as affordable, compared with 20% in towns and cities.
Without a comprehensive rural exemption, this measure will make it harder to sustain mixed communities and local services such as shops and pubs, they said,
CPRE chief executive Shaun Spiers said: "Many councils across the country struggle as a result of the non-replacement of council homes sold over the past 30 years. All these have been lost to the rented sector and some may now be second homes or holiday lets.
"The backbone of village life is the mix of people living there. Does the Government want to foster living, socially mixed rural communities? This is the test. It must adopt a proper, up-to-date definition of 'rural' and it must introduce a full exemption for rural communities from the right to buy. Otherwise we risk making rural living the exclusive preserve of those who can afford expensive market housing."
CLA chief surveyor Andrew Shirley said: "The housing situation in rural areas is already critical. Extending right to buy to housing association tenants in rural areas will reduce the already small number of affordable properties already available whilst deterring more land coming forward for new rural housing schemes.
"Many rural landowners have made a considerable investment in their community by making available potential housing land to housing associations, at a considerable undervalue, for the purpose of delivering affordable housing for local people. However with the right to buy there is little incentive for landowners to keep doing so, if these properties will only be reverted to open market housing under the right to buy."
A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said: "We want to help anyone who works hard and aspires to own their own home turn their dream into a reality.
"That is why we are committed to extending the right to buy to housing association tenants.
"The National Housing Federation has voted to take forward its proposal, which we will now consider."
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