House prices in Derbyshire village spiking due to massive rise in demand
07-17-2015
By Burton Mail By Helen Kreft
Councillor Michael Stanton.
A LACK of affordable housing in an historic South Derbyshire village is driving up house prices and forcing young people to relocate elsewhere, it has been claimed.
It comes as affordable housing provider Trent & Dove has helped fund a £2.4 million development in Repton but claimed that demand to live in the medieval village has boosted house prices beyond the reach of many.
It is a claim backed up by Councillor Michael Stanton, who represents the village on South Derbyshire District Council. He said: "There is a need for low-cost housing all over South Derbyshire.
"Low-cost housing is built on low-cost land but it is often very difficult to get low-cost land at a low-cost price because land is being sold at the highest market value.
"It is an unfortunate situation we are in."
However, news that Trent & Dove has now completed its multi-million pound affordable housing development, known as Clayfields, on a former greenfield site off Milton Road, has been welcomed by the councillor.
Steve Grocock, director of property services at Trent & Dove, said: "We were overwhelmed by the positive response of the people of Repton to our proposal – they, too, recognise the need to ensure their village is sustainable and remains vibrant by providing affordable homes to young families.
"The local community felt very strongly that these new homes should be for people with links to the area – and we agreed. As a result, our allocations policy stipulated that homes would only be given to people with family ties in the locality."
The claims about a rise in house prices and a move out of villages by young people comes as new analysis of population trends revealed the number of pensioners is set to soar across England's rural communities by 2021. It comes as younger generations who aspire to 'grow up and grow old' in rural villages and towns cannot get a foot on the property ladder.
It is a concern shared by Simon Smith, director of estate agent Nicholas Humphreys.
He said: "There is a lack of affordable housing in all rural locations across the East Midlands.
"Repton is an affluent area and where there are pockets of land, planners will plump for the top end to get the highest income against the build cost."
Keith Crew, partner at estate agent Crew Partnership, said that land for affordable housing would have to be brownfield.