Rural housing in the UK Current policy issues Mark Shucksmith This Viewpoint outlines the general issues which arise in relation to rural housing in the UK, focusing in particu- lar on the policy diiemma of country- side protection versus housing provi- sion. Several related issues also arise, the most notable of which is the key role which housing markets ptay in the social restructuring of the coun- tryside under current policies. The im- plications of these changes for low- income groups in the ~unt~side are also considered. The author is Senior Lecturer in the De- partment of Land Economy, University of Aberdeen, St Mary’s, King’s Cot&e, Old Aberdeen, ABQ 2UF, UK. ‘Department of the Environment, Housing in Rural Areas: Village Housing and New Vi//ages, HMSO, London, UK, 1988; De- partment of the Envimnment, ffousing in i%itai Areas, a statement by the Secretary of State for the Environment, DoE, Lon- don, UK, 1988. ‘A.W. Rogers, ‘Rural housing’, pp 108- 129 in M. Pacione, ed, Progress in Rural Geography, Groom Helm, Beckenham, UK, 1983. 3Scottish Development Department, ‘Rural housing in Scotland’, unpublished report, 1979. 4Roger Tym and Partners, ‘Local market analysis: Angus Glens’, report to Scottish Homes, 1990. 5SDD, op tit, Ref 3. LAND USE POLICY October 1990 Housing in the countryside is a subject of concern for UK politicians and pub- lic alike at present, both because of the expected increase in households necessitating perhaps 2 million addi- tional houses by the year 2001, and also because of vocal lobbies who seek ‘village homes for village people’ and/ or to prevent new development in the countryside. These concerns are now widespread, and reflect the conflict of public policy objectives between coun- tryside protection on the one hand and the release of land to meet housing requirements on the other. In the most attractive parts of England and Wales this dilemma has been particu- larly acute for some years, and attempts have been made to protect the landscape while remaining respon- sive to the housing needs of local people. Some thoughts on how this might be achieved were outlined in a speech and a discussion paper by the Secretary of State for the Environ- ment in 1988,’ and were further de- veloped in a policy announcement in February 1989. This now forms the basis of policy in many districts in England and Wales. Rural housing markets In rural areas the most significant dimension of the housing market is that of tenure. The mechanisms for access to owner-occupation are quite different from those for access to rented accommodation, whether pub- lic or private sector. A larger propor- tion of households owns their own homes (62.5%) in rural England and Wales than in urban reflecting the higher areas (57%), proportion of . . professional and intermediate social classes in the countryside (34% as against 22% in urban areas). In the British countryside owner-occupation is very much the preserve of the pro- fessional and non-manual workers,’ and the main barrier to home own- ership is a financial one. Even in Scot- land ‘it is now only the more highly paid, often incomers, who are in a position to acquire much of the prop- erty available’.” Many of the groups debarred from home purchase by their low incomes have traditionally relied upon the pri- vate rented sector in rural areas, often in the form of tied cottages. Now, however, fewer and fewer houses are being made available to rent by pri- vate landlords, and tenant dissatisfac- tion appears high amongst those that remain .4 In Scotland farm workers continue to lack the security of tenure which was granted in England and Wales in 1977. According to the Scot- tish Development Department (SDD), private renting is seen very much as a last resort.s Given these difficulties of access to the private tenures of owner- occupation and private renting, the housing opportunities of low-income groups in rural areas are likely to be structured almost wholly by the rate of social housing provision and its alloca- tion. For the fast decade social hous- ing provision in rural areas has de- clined in absolute terms, as council house sales have exceeded new addi- 283