The price of beauty

As home to the city of dreaming spires, rolling countryside and picturesque towns and villages Oxfordshire has a lot going for it but beauty comes at a price and finding an affordable home in the region can be challenging

Oxfordshire covers an area of more than 10,000 square miles and has a population of 605,488 with 50 per cent of its residents living in rural areas.

It is divided into the rural district councils of Cherwell, Vale of White Horse, West Oxfordshire and South Oxfordshire – all of which have transferred their housing stock and Oxford City Council. The city council owns around 7,700 homes – flats, houses and bungalows – across the city and offers a range of housing services including advice and support to prevent homelessness.

And while the rural district councils no longer hold stock they still have an important role to play in housing provision and work closely with housing associations in the area.

Affordability is a huge issue in Oxfordshire where house prices are well above those for the rest of the UK putting homes out of reach of many first-time buyers and those on modest incomes.

This is further exacerbated by the number of former council homes lost through R ight to Buy, an increase in properties being sold as second homes and to the buy to let market and the limited number of new homes being built.

As Tom McCulloch, rural housing enabler at Oxfordshire Rural Community Council (ORCC), a charity, which promotes village life, explains “House prices are very high in Oxfordshire and in the current financial climate it is proving extremely difficult for many to secure a mortgage.

“The average terraced property is selling for around £250,000 compared to an average of £190,000 across England for a terraced house. Lenders typically require a deposit of about 20 per cent or £50,000 and even if a household could secure a mortgage of three times their salary, total annual income would have to be around £65,000. This is beyond the means of many first-time buyers and especially those with a low, average or single income.”

And figures show that the region’s population is set to grow even further. A housing needs survey carried out by South Oxfordshire District Council and Vale of White Horse District Council in 2008 predicted a population increase of 12.9 per cent between 2006 and 2026.

It said that 54.7 per cent of households who had moved in the last three years had migrated from outside the district.

House prices only tell part of the story says McCulloch. While high prices keep home ownership out of the reach of many people rent is not always a cheap option.

“Shelter found in a report published in October 2011 that private rents across the county were fairly unaffordable; unaffordable being defined as a rent to income ratio of 35 per cent plus,” he explains. “However the OR HP has done its own affordability research, based on actual Housing Needs Survey Responses and found that 50 per cent to 80 per cent of those in affordable housing need have an income below the median, in many cases substantially below. As a result many have set aside significantly more than 35 per cent of their income to pay the rent. This has obvious effects on someone’s ability to afford life’s other necessities.”

Oxfordshire’s largely rural landscape brings additional challenges with many people being forced out of the villages where they grew up due to unaffordable house prices, which in turn has an effect on amenities and services.

The Oxfordshire Rural Housing Partnership (ORHP) was founded in September 2003 in a bid to maximise the opportunities for rural communities and help people to find affordable housing.

The partnership is made up of the ORCC, West Oxfordshire District Council, South Oxfordshire District Council, Cherwell District Council, Vale of White Horse District Council, Cottsway Housing Association, SOHA Housing, Oxford Citizen’s Housing Association and Sovereign Vale Housing Association.

In the last 12 months its rural housing enablers have carried out over 15 housing needs surveys in parishes across the county and have uncovered a housing need in every parish.

The level of need differs from parish to parish ranging from five to 50 plus but the actual level of need could be far greater than recorded explains McCulloch.

“It should be borne in mind that those already in district council housing registers often do not respond to a housing needs survey, thinking their need is already recorded,” he says. “So our surveys most likely underestimate the true level of need. This is why we work closely with local housing authorities when deciding the most appropriate size of affordable housing development in a given community.”

The partnership’s remit is to identify affordable housing need in rural communities and to build homes to help meet that need for those with local connections to that community.

“The impacts of a lack of affordable housing in rural communities in Oxfordshire are similar to elsewhere,” says McCulloch. “One example might concern those who need to remain in a parish in order to give or receive support; grandparents helping to look after the grandchildren while the parents are at work, children who support and look after elderly relatives. If one or the other has to move away from the community who gives that support?

“Without a mix of people in villages, services can close and organisations find it difficult to run the pub, the shop, the school. At the thicker end of the wedge villages and communities can become enclaves for the wealthy or retired or dormitory villages for commuters.

“Communities often tell us that they are searching for balance, that a mix of private and affordable housing is needed to ensure healthy, sustainable communities. The ORHP works to that end on small developments that make homes available in perpetuity to those with connections to the parish, people who want to be able to stay in and contribute to their community, where the family has often lived for generations.”

Since 2003 ORHP has built almost 400 new homes on 45 sites across Oxfordshire with recent completions including Hornton (Cherwell), Blewbury (South Oxfordshire), East Hendred (Vale of White Horse), Chadlington Wootton and Stanton Harcourt (West Oxfordshire).

“This is a not insignificant achievement given the challenges in delivering affordable housing in rural areas, particularly the difficulties with land availability,” says McCulloch.

There are developments currently on site in Combe, Stonesfield and Hanborough (west Oxfordshire) and the ORHP is working with some 50 parish councils across the county to provide more affordable homes. Other local authorities and housing associations are also doing their bit to bring new affordable homes to the region through their local plans and housing strategies.