There are severe housing shortages throughout the UK. But rural areas face special difficulties: l Competition from commuters, retirees and second homeowners means on average rural house prices are 26% higher than in urban areas. l Local earnings are consistently lower in rural than urban areas, averaging £19,700 in rural districts compared with £26,900 for the major urban areas. l and there is much less housing association and Council housing, not least because of higher levels of Right to Buy sales. 12% of rural housing stock is social housing compared with 19% in urban areas. So housing affordability is a much greater problem. Even given the low national targets for new affordable homes, the fair share for rural areas (relative to population) should be no less than 7,500 homes a year. But in 2013 we built only 2,886.

Over the last decade a series of excellent reports have made the case for more affordable rural housing. Our review has considered whether progress has been made in taking forward the recommendations from these reports. We have to conclude that the position facing the next generation who need to live and work in rural areas has become even tougher in recent years.