House prices are making homes in a York village increasingly unaffordable for young families, a resident who fears for its long-term viability has said.
Anne Clark, a resident of Naburn for 24 years, said she worried high house prices may force her daughter and other families with children to move away.
Ms Clark, who is also a school governor, added the future of the village would be uncertain if people cannot afford to live there.
And she is not alone in her concerns, as prices outstrip earnings, fuelling anxieties about the affordability of homes across York.
In the last year average house prices in Naburn reached £565,000, according to property website Rightmove, with semi-detached homes selling for an average of £350,000.
Naburn’s yearly overall average compares to £321,195 for York and £242,855 across Yorkshire.
Ms Clark told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) planning rules had held development in Naburn back, including by stopping extensions on homes in green belt land.
The village resident, who is chair of governors at Naburn Church of England Primary School, said the only way to bring more younger people in was to build more homes.
Ms Clark said: “I’m concerned about people having to move away, there’s people like my daughter who’d like to stay here but can’t.
“She’s a single mum with a four-year-old girl, she rents a house in the village but she’s self-employed and on a low income and dependent on us for childcare.
“There’s very few properties to rent in Naburn, my daughter managed to get one but the rent’s quite high.
“She could have been paying a mortgage with the amount it costs but she’s not in a position to get one unless she moved out of York.
“Many people who live here are retired, the properties that do come on the market aren’t affordable for young families.
“We need more affordable housing for them, our school is dependent on children being in the village, we’d like to expand it but if we can’t attract families here then we can’t.
“We’re surrounded by beautiful farmland and there’s pockets of land that aren’t regularly used, so I think there’s room for a small affordable housing development.
“We have a strong community here and we’ve had some great events in recent years like our street party for the King’s coronation, but all that’s dependent on having families here to keep it going.
“There has to be room for us all, it’s not acceptable to have a village full of retired people.”
‘Transform infrastructure’
The Naburn resident’s comments follow the adoption of York’s first Local Plan in 69 years which sets out development until 2038.
The plan has allocated sites for around 20,000 new homes including 4,000 affordable ones to be sold or rented at at least 20 per cent less than market rates.
Cllr Christian Vassie, whose Wheldrake ward covers Naburn, told LDRS building of new homes needed to go hand-in-hand with improvements to infrastructure like transport and health facilities.
He added the newly-adopted York Local Plan should be used to improve public transport and create more cycle routes from villages into the city, which would also help the environment.
The Liberal Democrat said: “I and many others have sat in countless planning meetings over the years where all attempts to improve development proposals have been swept aside because we lacked an adopted Local Plan.
“We have to transform infrastructure to support the communities who will live in the new homes we build.
“‘It’s no good allowing developers to build hundreds of homes that sell for half a million pounds and then expressing surprise when they are bought not by local people but by commuters who then fill the roads with more cars.”
Elsewhere, Cllr Chris Steward, Conservative councillor for Copmanthorpe, said people there accepted the village needed to take its fair share of new homes.
But he added the shortage of homes was a national and not just a local issue, with building failing to keep up with the UK’s growing population for many years.
Coun Steward said: “The adoption of the Local Plan is positive but it will certainly not solve the housing crisis.
“At a local level in my ward we are seeing just over 200 houses built across two sites, which is a more than 10 per cent rise in the houses in the village.
“Generally people are positive about development, however with both sites being built out currently there is inevitably significant disruption in the short-term.”
Council housing lead Cllr Michael Pavlovic said the Local Plan would allow homes to be built at the scale needed to meet demand while respecting York’s special and unique character.
The Labour housing executive member said: “The plan also ensures affordable homes will be built in far greater numbers, helping to meet identified need in a high housing cost city like York.
“Renting or owning a good home is an aspiration we want to support people to achieve.
“For too long this has been out of reach for many due to the national policy of supressing new home building, but the Local Plan now provides greater optimism for current and future generations that they can afford to live and work in York.”