New Forest Cottages cause the housing shortage dilemma?

The new forest has some of the lowest available housing of any district council. Last year for example, the entire housing allocation for the new forest available to council tenants in their search for new forest accommodation was less than 70 properties in total.

 Why? Primarily this is because the new forest district council area is mainly covered by protected forest and greenbelt land. This leaves only very small areas of land available to build upon and the demand for this land is unrivalled even by major cities, which at least, can build upwards in their quest for housing.

To further exacerbate the housing shortage, the new forest is a very popular tourist destination that fuels private investors into buying the available housing for the purpose of short term letting on a buy-to-let basis. This is especially true during the summer months and especially true for the typical new forest cottages which are highly sought after by both investors and holiday makers alike and these cottages represent a huge proportion of the overall availability of new forest accommodation.

Of course nobody would suggest that this practice should stop or be prevented in any way. Tourism is by far the most important resource that the new forest has and supports many small businesses and families alike, in some cases forcing them into new forest bed and breakfast short term accommodations, hence the dilemma! Can a balance be found that allows tourism to flourish at the same time as supporting our housing needs? Not if the new forest district council maintains the strict building code which is out of date taking into account our new housing needs especially as it is so much harder for first-time buyers to enter the private sector when mortgages are harder to find and even harder to afford during this recession.

We all know that the council wish to retain the essence of the area by preventing unsightly developments which could have a devastating impact upon our beautiful surroundings. This being the case, somebody explain the councils recent planning consent that allowed the, unsightly and totally out of character, opening of the ‘99p store’ in Lymington high street? Ludicrous!

Housing is what we need, not a garish store selling cheap junk. Double standards at work by a council full of out-of-touch bureaucrats that just don’t care.