Affordable Housing: Stratford-on-Avon District Council Nominated For Award Despite Concerns

More than 300 new homes have been built in the Stratford-On-Avon district in 18 years with critics calling for more affordable housing for local families in rural communities.

Recently released data in the Rural Housing Enabler Report 2023 showed that the area had seen 321 rural homes delivered between 2005 and 2023.

Rural Housing Enabler (RHE) is employed by Warwickshire Rural Community Council (WRCC) to work with rural communities to identify and satisfy affordable housing needs.

RHE’s collaboration with the Stratford-on-Avon District Council’s Housing Policy and Development Team led to a nomination for Council or Combined Authority of the Year at the Affordable Housing Awards.

The award was eventually won by Stevenage Borough Council.

Stratford-on-Avon District is mostly made up of small dispersed rural settlements. The Tysoe Ward contains around 2,500 residents over the age of 18, and the biggest settlement in the ward is a village of only around 900 residents.

Tysoe Councillor Malcolm Littlewood recounted his experience of working with the RHE to be good. According to its report, Tysoe has received two rural homes over the given time period.

Despite this, Mr Littlewood said that there was still not enough social housing in his ward:“What there is available is old stock, some dating back to the 1920s.

“Inevitably this stock is thermally inefficient and expensive to run with issues of damp and black mould,” he said.

Mr Littlewood said that for local children who want to remain in the community they grew up in, low cost housing was an issue.

Highlighting the importance of this type of housing to the local community, he said: “Local families are the core of any community.

“Remaining part of that community engenders pride in the community and a desire to protect it and improve it.  Enabling families to stay local reduces anti-social behaviour and the cost of petty crime.”

George Cowcher, Portfolio Holder for Planning and Economic Development in Stratford on Avon District Council, and Councillor for Wellesbourne South, said that too much of the wrong type of housing has been built in the Stratford district in the last ten years.

He said: “Particularly in the rural area we have built the wrong type of housing – too expensive and wrong tenure. Not enough housing for rent.”

Councillor Cowcher said that the government’s definition of affordable was unrealistic.

“The most expensive affordable house in the Stratford District is £400,000 which is clearly of no interest to someone on average wages and below,” he said.

A resident of the Stratford District, who wished to remain anonymous, made clear their disappointment at what was defined as affordable, saying: “The prices of these houses are far too high for me to afford.

“I work 45 hours a week and still do not have enough to purchase a so-called affordable house,” they said.

“The fact that I can’t afford to live where I grew up makes me feel alienated from the only community I know,” they added.