A HOUSING crisis is developing in the village of Great Bedwyn as there are fewer affordable fewer homes for young families and those on low incomes.

“We have a problem as the perception is it is very expensive here,” said Charles Howells the chair of the Parish Council of Great Bedwyn. “We did a housing needs survey and the conclusion was what we wanted was more affordable housing in the village. Government policy at the moment doesn’t get us want we want.”

He said for historical reasons there was a high number of social housing in the village managed by housing associations but there was a problem as when they sold them, they didn’t build new ones locally.

“There are some nice older properties that have maintenance issues,” he said, “but the housing associations seem keen to sell those houses when they come up and what happens there is that we reduce the housing stock here and replace it with somewhere else in the county.”

The market is broken he said as if you are a successful community the house prices go up meaning families that have their roots here and have grown up here cannot afford to stay.

One factor that is not unique to Great Bedwyn he said new is people moving into the village from more expensive areas such as London and the South East of England where house prices are higher.