28/3/2006

News in Farnborough

Borough 'needs big houses'

by Lindsey Eudo-Mitchell

Rushmoor could face social imbalance if developers continue to neglect building houses in favour of small affordable flats.

The Housing Market Summary was presented to Rushmoor Borough Council’s community policy and review panel last week.

The study showed that while people working in Rushmoor earn an average of £566 a week, residents of the borough go home with £465. This is because many highly paid jobs in Rushmoor are filled by people commuting to work from other, wealthier areas.

Chris Cobbold of DTZ Pieda Consulting, the company commissioned by Rushmoor to conduct the study,  said part of the problem was a shortage of larger homes for people in higher wage brackets. He said trends in housing development favoured those in lower income groups and this would result in social imbalance.

Speaking at the review panel meeting, he said: “Housing policy is one of the key drivers, if not the key driver, of how you can affect the social structure of the borough.

“Rushmoor has got a higher proportion of smaller dwellings than Blackwater Valley as a whole, but it’s actually got larger households so we end up with crowding and patterns of disadvantage.”

Mr Cobbold warned that unless more larger homes were built, the area would continue to attract first-time buyers while those on higher incomes climbing the social ladder would leave for wealthier areas.

“Rushmoor attracts people in low income groups who want to get on the housing ladder, and this will have some impact on the neighbouring schools.”

He added: “Relatively speaking, it’s a less attractive area for people to exercise their right to buy compared with other areas locally and it actually represents a great opportunity for people eligible for social housing to get on the register in Rushmoor.

“Rushmoor is cheaper to develop than other parts of Blackwater Valley so we get more social housing here than we do in the more exclusive parts of Blackwater Valley.

In the next 20 years you will be adding between 15% and 20% of your current housing stock and the houses you build will influence the type of people who come to live here.”

Council chief executive Andrew Lloyd said: “It’s very interesting that we’re talking about Rushmoor in the context of Blackwater Valley and there’s clearly some difference between various areas.

“We have a very strong economy and virtually no unemployment, but we do have a big issue in terms of quality jobs not being taken by local people.

“I don’t think that we should become the focus for social housing within Blackwater Valley. We should aspire to a situation where local people can achieve more locally and live in local homes and where major executives can live in the borough and be integrated into the community.”

Mr Lloyd thought the council should urge neighbouring authorities to do their bit in providing affordable and social housing to take the burden off Rushmoor.

Cllr Brian Jupp said: “To attract higher income into the borough surely means we have to have something to offer them.

“We’ve got to do something to bring them in other than just build big houses. We’ve got to look at schools, shops, cinemas, theatres, things which would also be attractive to them.”

The report, commissioned by the council, will provide evidence for the Rushmoor Local Plan, which shows how the council intends to develop the area over the next ten years.

First printed in: Aldershot News and Mail