Ryedale homes crisis warning (From Gazette & Herald)

Ryedale homes crisis warning

MORE homes must be built in Ryedale to avert a housing crisis following the doubling of house prices in only five years.

Ryedale has the largest gap between average house prices and average household incomes in North Yorkshire, revealed district council planning officer, Julian Rudd.

"We also have the third highest average house prices in the region and have experienced a 102 per cent increase in house prices since 2000," said Mr Rudd.

The shock facts were related in a report on the emerging draft policy approaches contained in the draft Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) for Yorkshire and the Humber.

The RSS will form part of the development plan for Ryedale against which all future planning applications will be determined.

Despite the rise in house prices and the gap between average cost of homes and average income, draft housing figures in the RSS would mean that Ryedale would have the second lowest annual build rate of any authority in the region.

Mr Rudd has warned councillors that more houses must be allowed to be built. Otherwise there could be a serious affect "on the future economic and social well-being of Ryedale".

An annual figure of 180 new houses a year was agreed for Ryedale in the last structure plan, and then increased to 200 per year by the Ryedale Local Plan inspector.

Between 1991 and 2000, there was an average build rate of 212 units per year. However, over the three year period 2001-4, this dropped steeply to an average of 137 per year.

The Ryedale Housing Needs Study identifies an annual requirement of 326 new affordable dwellings a year to meet local housing needs.

"In order to begin to seriously tackle this issue, a reasonable housing allocation will be required for Ryedale in order to seek a percentage of that as affordable units.

"The lower our overall housing figure, the lower the number of affordable units that we can secure as a percentage of the overall level of development," said Mr Rudd.

Members of the policy and resources committee will consider the report on Thursday.

Updated: 13:57 Wednesday, February 09, 2005