Minister tackles homes crisis

Kingsbridge: Locals are being squeezed out

Organisations are trying to find a solution to the problem of house prices spiralling out of reach of local people in the South West.

Councillors in the South Hams area of south Devon will be among those putting their concerns to the Housing Minister, Tony McNulty, at a special one-day conference.

Many areas of the South West have a serious lack of affordable housing.

The South Hams is acknowledged as having one of the worst problems in the region, with average house prices nearly 10 times the average salary for the area.

Not in our backyard: Demonstrators make their point

But where affordable new homes are needed, there is also fierce opposition from those campaigning against new developments on greenfield sites.

The Delivering Affordable Housing conference in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset will discuss possible solutions to the problem.

The meeting, which is partly organised by the Housing Corporation, will bring together housing experts and special interest organisations.

Figures from the Land Registry last week showed the South West was one of the country's housing hotspots.

Emma Wilson, 23, and Matt Barrow, 24, are among those affected.

Emma Wilson: 'Give us a break'

They moved to Cornwall because rents in their home town, Reading, were too expensive.

They have lived everywhere from a flat above a pizza parlour to a caravan.

Emma, who works for the local wildlife trust, and builder Matt earn £20,000 a year.

But their hopes of getting on the housing ladder were dashed when the sale of the house they were buying fell through after three months.

Then they found prices had soared still further.

Having borrowed £5,000 from Emma's parents, the pair seem no nearer to affording a home.

Price rises

The demand for holiday homes in Cornwall means prices are going through the roof.

"You really just want to scream at them: 'Please, just stop! Give us a break!'" says Emma.

Official figures showed the price of the average house in the region rose to £146,150 in the three months to September, up from £123,856 in the same period last year.

The increase (23.12%) was one of the biggest in the country.