MP holds major conference to tackle need for affordable rural housing

Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron, along with South Lakeland District Council, will be hosting a conference to tackle the need for affordable housing across South Lakeland.

The action day, to be held at Kendal Town Hall in March this year, will involve representatives from Parish Councils, the Rural Housing Trust, South Lakes Housing and a number of other interested bodies, to develop and support solutions to the local housing need.

It is hoped that the government's Localism Agenda, giving power to local people to tackle community problems, will empower and inspire local groups to get involved and work to identify actions and solutions to the problem. The event will cover themes ranging from the impact of the localism bill in creating community led planning, to understand the housing need both now and in the future.

Commenting this morning, Tim said; "We lose one in three of our young people from the South Lakes, never to return, because of a lack of affordable homes in our communities. Affordable housing has been a campaign that I have continued to push across the South Lakes. I regularly speak to constituents, who raise it as the key issue facing our community, so I am very hopeful that this conference will bring together all these local interests to find solutions that suits the residents of Westmorland and Lonsdale.

"The Localism bill will empower us, as a community, to work together with local authorities, developers and the voluntary sector to build affordable housing for South Lakeland residents. Fundamentally though, we need action not words."