AS Tavistock?s county councillor, I am well aware of the frustrations of today?s young people in Tavistock as they look to get a foot on the bottom rung of the local property ladder so that they can continue living within the community where they work and have friends and family. I understand these frustrations only too well. I grew up on a council estate, married and lived with a small child in private rented accommodation. Tavistock is an area of high property prices and low wages. It is effectively impossible for most of our young people to own their own home in this area without community provision. Yet two recent town centre development approvals for 26 properties had no provision for affordable housing. I believe that West Devon Borough Council must put policies in place which ensure that there will always be a sufficient supply of houses for rent-only in Tavistock. Only in this way will young people be retained within our community and not driven to live in Plymouth. We need more affordable housing. It is not enough to leave provision to the local private housing market. The free market in housing means that incomers push up house prices far beyond local wage increases. Our local councils must act to ensure that all development from now on will take account of the needs of local people who have a residence, job or family connection to the area, with a legal agreement in perpetuity to enforce this. It is not enough to write pious hopes into council plans. The effect of a robust approach will be to make a proportion of those homes built in our town affordable for local people and allow regeneration to take place where opportunities present themselves. Roy Connelly County Councillor Tavistock Rural
