CONCERN is growing over moves to build an affordable housing scheme in an East Cornwall village which some local people claim is being pushed forward without community support. A website has been set up by campaigners who want to try and stop the Stoke Climsland Affordable Housing Project which could see 16 homes constructed on a site within the village but outside the development boundary. The project team says it has instigated the idea because high house prices are preventing young people getting on the housing ladder. But many villagers feel it will not solve the problem and will change the character of the village. They have also questioned whether there is a demand for these homes. There is criticism that support to investigate the idea given at a public meeting in January has been taken as support for the scheme. Local resident Graham Chinn was one of the 85 villagers who attended a second meeting held by the parish council last week. 'The biggest problem is affordable housing is not affordable to local people,' he said. 'What local people need is low cost, practical housing, but they are not going to get that. There will just end up being an excess of homes in a village location which will have to be filled up by people outside the area and problem families.' He said shared equity homes, whereby people pay a mortgage on part of the property and rent on the other, was not affordable to people on low wages, and rented properties were not the answer. 'They will have to build so many houses to make the scheme viable and if only a few in the parish want them what happens to all the others?' he said. It is understood that there are more than 100 affordable homes being built between nearby Kelly Bray and Callington. Another resident, Mark Sycamore, said the majority of the project team lived outside the village and it felt as if these homes were being imposed on the village without proper consultation. 'I do not believe there is a need. The crux of the problem is that most house prices are too expensive and the only solution is if they come down — building a few affordable houses is not the answer. 'Expanding a village like this destroys its character — in reality it should be towns that grow not villages. They are also likely to have the services and facilities to cope.' Member of the affordable housing project David Short said he knew of at least 12 people who would be interested in one of the houses. 'The next stage is to find out if there really is a need by doing a survey,' he said. 'As far as we are concerned it has all been very open, but the project will go nowhere if the community is not behind it. We can't push something onto someone who does not want it.' Mr Short said the cost of a first-time buyer's house in the South West was £56,000 ten years ago but now it was £160,000, yet the average income had gone up just 58%. He said not living in the centre of the village was irrelevant. 'The fact is that if there is support for forming a Community Land Trust — a management team is elected by the local people and they can control who goes into these houses.' However, if the houses are for rent and not for sale, it is likely that a housing association would have to get involved and then it is the local authority who sets the criteria for allocation. Stoke Climsland Parish Council is yet to take a view on the project but has offered to help with the survey. North Cornwall District Council has offered a grant of £4,000 so the necessary legal documents can be drawn up to form a community land trust. There are three possible sites in the village, owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, which are deemed suitable for the scheme. Affordable housing officer for the district council Steve Crammer said there were 329 people currently on the housing register looking for rental accommodation in the Stoke Climsland and Callington areas and 54 looking to buy. 'It has been more than confirmed that there is a need in this area, so in planning terms an exception site for affordable housing in Stoke Climsland would be justified,' he said.