CONCERNS that social housing is being sold to private buyers, instead of being refurbished and rented back out to people who need homes, have been raised by worried locals.

One man, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: “Despite there being a shortage of social housing it seems that when an older property becomes vacant, Aster don’t re-let the property to someone on the list, they put them up for sale on the open market.

"There is one house down the road from me that has just had new windows put in. It only needs about £2000 more worth of work done. But instead they have sold it off. They are building homes in other towns in the county but not in the villages where we need them and this spits up a community. 

“This is happening in Great Bedwyn where a friend of mine lives and now in Milton Lilbourne where I live.

“I have also been told it’s happening in Pewsey.”

Aster provides rented and affordable housing on behalf of Wiltshire Council. It agrees that run down homes that needed extensive repairs are being sold - to raise money which is then used to pay for affordable new build homes.

Just one property in Pewsey is currently available on Homes4Wiltshire, the website that offers affordable accommodation. There are currently around 2,500 people on the housing register and more than 2,000 people join the register each year. Around 1,800 homes are advertised each year.

Curly Haskell, of Pewsey Parish Council, said: “We are aware of Aster selling some properties in Pewsey, but we can also confirm that over the last two years they have built four new houses on the Broadfields Estate.”

An Aster spokesman said: “To continue to provide our customers with a good service and homes they can afford we periodically review the properties we own and how they are performing. We identify those that are either costly to repair and maintain or have low energy efficiency.

“Depending on housing need in the area we then look to sell these underperforming properties so that we can build new, more energy efficient homes which are cheaper to run for our customers. This approach means that we can house more families in better quality homes.”

People are also worried that social mobility is being held back in rural areas due to a lack of affordable housing and public services.

Mayor of Marlborough Lisa Farrell said housing and public services were vital to ensure that young people remain in the area and progress. She said: “Young people still need the same as anyone in a city. They need a job and housing and that isn’t being listened to.“The community is becoming segmented with too many areas, and it means that not everyone is helping each other.The people in rural areas are being left behind the towns.”

“With stopping services like buses and pubs and post offices it feels like they are abandoning rural areas. Some of these services are a lifeline for people and we don’t know who is out there and if they are struggling.”