In 2021, Bude-Stratton Town Council declared a housing emergency due to the lack of available affordable housing for the local community. Whilst BSTC is not the statutory housing authority and has no direct powers on the matter, we do seek to use our influence to alleviate the situation.
Following on from this, BSTC worked closely with Cornwall Council’s Housing Team to create a Housing Needs Survey, which was conducted during summer 2022. Almost 1,000 households in Bude and Stratton responded to the survey, the full results of which have now been published (see below).
Several key findings resulted from the survey.
- There is a large number of Bude-Stratton residents who are potentially in need of affordable housing, but who are NOT registered with Homechoice.
- Crucially, households are not eligible to bid on affordable homes until they are listed on a housing register.
- Additionally, the total number of households on the register at any one time provides vital information regarding the housing situation in Bude-Stratton to decision makers at County level. This can have a real impact on policy direction when it comes to planning matters, so it’s worth signing up even if you feel access to your own affordable house seems a long way off.
The survey was sent to 5,416 households in the parish, and 975 responses were received – a response rate of 18% (which compares to a typical response rate of12-14%). From these responses alone, the survey identified 246 respondents who are potentially in need of affordable housing but who were not registered with either Homechoice or the previous scheme, Help to Buy South.
BSTC also agreed to use the survey in the planning process to evidence the need for smaller units and object to developments of predominantly large (4-bed) housing units, and to continue to explore the Community Land Trust idea.
Further information and contact details for affordable housing in Cornwall can be accessed via the Cornwall Council website HERE
You can also find more information in Securing Homes for All: A Plan to address Cornwall’s Housing Crisis, which was published in November 2022, and contains a lot of data on the current housing crisis in Cornwall. HERE
The BSTC Lead Councillor for Housing is Cllr Viki Herbert-Coulson, and you can email her HERE
You can find out all you need to know about registering with Homechoice below: