Description
Book SynopsisFor the past century, governments have been compelled, time and again, to return to the search for solutions to the housing and economic challenges posed by a restructuring countryside. The rural housing question is an analysis of the complexity of housing and development tensions in the rural areas of England, Wales and Scotland. It analyses a range of topics: from attitudes to rural development, economic change, land use, planning and counter-urbanisation; through retirement and ageing, leisure consumption, lifestyle shifts and homelessness; to public and private house building, private and public renting and community initiatives. Across this spectrum of concerns, it attempts to isolate the fundamental tensions that give the rural housing question an intractable quality. The book is aimed at policy makers, researchers, students and anyone with an interest in the future of the British countryside.
Trade Review"...this book is prescient in the nature of its recommendations and should be considered required reading in the context of current policy developments." Tom Moore in Housing Studies Journal
"This important contribution to the literature....highlights key themes and public policy choices within an important aspect of housing policy specific to rural regions in Britain." David.W.Marcouiller, University of Wisconsin – Madison, USA
Table of ContentsContents: Part one: Dissecting the rural housing question: Introduction; The British countryside: nostalgia, romanticism and intervention; 'Protect and consume': understanding the orthodoxy of planning response; The components of the rural housing question; Part two: Components of the rural housing question: The existing policy framework; Planning and land for housing (Supply); Private house building (Supply); Planning and the rural economy (Local Demand); Migration and 'adventitious purchasers' (Demand); Second homes and recreational pressure; Retirement and ageing; Intervening to 'protect' local interests and promote local needs; Planning and affordable housing; Social housing in rural areas; The Private Rented Sector (PRS); Expanding low-cost home ownership; Rural homelessness; Community initiative; Part three: Answering the rural housing question: Seeking answers from overseas; Reviewing the evidence; Working with communities; Challenging 'protect and consume'.
