Housing Need

I read with some concern the views of Bury Society and the Suffolk Preservation Society. To care for the character and environment in which we live is a worthwhile cause. We cannot however ignore the needs of our community. It is the needs of people we should look after first. In Bury St Edmunds the average wage is below the national wage, while the cost of housing is above the national housing. Curbing house building will only widen this gap.

It is perfectly possible to build low cost housing, with low energy use, with good design that blend into communities rather than rank upon rank of housing facing each other across narrow streets with limited parking.

We are suffering congestion in our suburbs as children stay at home with parents because they cannot afford a house. We see estates with four of five cars per household putting at risk the delivery of emergency services, and generating irritation among neighbours. I frequently talk to residents with children in their thirties still living at home because they can't find something to buy. We have an average house occupancy of 1.4 per household and yet we 'permit' developers to continue to build more 4 and 5 bedroom houses. I know pensioners who want to buy a smaller property for their retirement but cannot find a suitable property to buy, particularly in the rural areas.

Perhaps the current financial crisis will encourage house builders to re-evaluate the market need for 1 and 2 bedroom properties. The divorce rate leaves many people living alone in large houses and people on financial financial 'uppers' desperate for lower cost housing they want to buy. Certainly our town planners provide little encouragement to developers to meet existing community need rather than building to supply London Commuters moving in.

The problem is particularly acute in our villages. We are seeing our villages being depopulated by young people forced out by high house prices.

There is also an acute problem with over two thousand people living in Category A housing need. No one would want their family to live in such housing conditions and circumstances. The current council policy of 'steady as you go' new building does nothing to address the urgent needs of these residents, and a 'stop house building' campaign will only make the problem more acute.