In the West Oxfordshire of David Cameron, as in Britain, the housing bubble masks a shortage of homes that hits all but the wealthiest. In rural areas like ours it also threatens to turn whole communities into ghost villages and the area into a dormitory district.
Our children cannot get on the property ladder in an area where average house prices are over 12 times average wages. Families are squeezed for space but also time as one or both adults commute far from home for wages to pay high housing costs. People surf sofas while large properties bought as investments or Cotswold boltholes stand empty for weeks or months.
Ironically the wealthy Tory council finds return from property investments is outperforming all other classes and has done so for some years. Labour councillors are therefore looking for models that allow taxpayer funds to be invested to create affordable homes locally, including funding for refurbishments, part-rent, part-buy schemes and self-build schemes.
Every parish and town in West Oxfordshire understands the importance of providing homes for new households, whether that is local young people looking for a first home, people with disabilities seeking adapted homes, or older people looking to downsize but still stay close to friends and family. The shortage of options leaves many with no choice but to move away from their community. As Labour leader and candidate next May I am consulting parish and town councils to identify their housing needs, and suggest ways to meet them by listing brownfield, adaptation or other developments within or adjacent to their boundaries. Small-scale suggestions will help communities be sustainable and save local shops, pubs, churches and schools under threat.
Homes left empty blight our streets and reduce the affordable houses available to local families at a time of shortage across the district. Empty homes in our villages also damage the viability of communities. Families living in our towns and villages means children in local schools, people using village shops and pubs, volunteers for local activities and life to a village or town. Labour councillors are working on a new empty homes policy which explicitly seeks to minimse the number of homes left empty. Measures to be considered include active efforts to identify empty homes including encouraging residents to report them, lobbying government to allow councils to vary the rate of council tax on empty homes (currently up to 1.5 times the normal rate) to help community resilience and vary also the amount of time a home can be left empty before the additional charge becomes payable. Rules should be put in place to initiate compulsory purchase by the local authority after six months if an owner does not respond to requests to refurbish derelict homes, alongside a fund to lend to owners to help them refurbish which is repayable at market rates and secured against the property in question.
Holiday homes give visitors a chance to see our beautiful district and boost the tourist industry. Labour will therefore adopt a positive tone in the local plan regarding development of new purpose-designed holiday cottages and facilities which are in locations and of a nature not suitable for permanent dwelling. However, when concentrated in a particular town or village, too many holiday homes put in peril the viability of the community and can drive local businesses and organisations to the wall. They also reduce the number of homes affordable and available for local families and can drive them out of the area. We are therefore consulting on plans to create a register of holiday homes, going beyond those declared by owners to include those listed for tourists, to consider regularly the impact on villages, and to report this to councillors.
All of this needs a simple thing from government which is support where necessary but ‘devo-max’ for councils on homes for local communities.
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Duncan Enright is prospective parliamentary candidate for Witney, and a councillor on Witney town council and West Oxfordshire district council. He tweets @DuncanEnright
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