Our Rural Affordable Housing Service offers free support to rural communities in Berkshire who feel there is an affordable housing need for the people living, working in, or connected to their community. This project, part of a national programme funded by the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) aims to enable small numbers of affordable homes to be built in rural areas, in suitable locations to meet local needs.
In this project, the development of new homes is community-led, with our Rural Housing Enablers acting as an advisor and connectors between communities, housing providers, and planning authorities. Their role is to work with you to identify housing need in your area and ensure that developments are of the right scale and design to meet the specific needs of your community. Any new homes built will be reserved for people with a connection to the local area. Our project has a rural focus, and we mostly work with parishes with a population under 3,000.
If you are from a parish council or rural community group and think there may be a housing need in your village or parish, get in touch with our Rural Housing Enablers.
For more information please access our free resources:
Resources:
Developing New Affordable Housing in Rural Exception Sites
Background:
We have over 15 years of experience in rural housing and have supported successful rural exception site housing developments in Wargrave, Chaddleworth, Hungerford, and Woolhampton
In February 2024 we received investment from the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) via our national body Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) (www.acre.org.uk) so that we can once again provide a rural housing enabling service to rural communities across Berkshire.
Maria Kelly: Rural Housing Enabler
Contact – Maria.Kelly@ccberks.org.uk
Maria has worked in the community sector for 20 years and has extensive experience in community-led partnerships.
Barry Malki : Rural Housing Enabler
Contact – Barry.Malki@ccberks.org.uk
Barry has spent many years working in the Housing Sector, primarily focused on social impact and communities. During this period, Barry has worked with different organisations and agencies nationwide and is a passionate advocate of shared learning and supporting networks.
Connecting Communities in Berkshire 