Rural Housing Week: helping rural communities stay vibrant and sustainable

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This #RuralHousingWeek, we’re highlighting the work of Maria Kelly, CCB’s Rural Housing Enabler for Berkshire, and the important role Rural Housing Enablers play in helping communities understand and address local housing needs.

Many rural communities are facing growing challenges. House prices and private rents often far exceed local wages, making it difficult for young people, families, key workers and older residents to remain in the villages where they grew up, work or have support networks. Without affordable homes, rural communities risk losing the people who help keep local schools, businesses and community life thriving. [see-media.foleon.com]

As Berkshire’s Rural Housing Enabler, Maria acts as an independent bridge between communities, local authorities, housing providers and landowners, helping villages understand their housing needs and explore locally-supported solutions. [see-media.foleon.com]

One of the key pieces of work Maria has led this year is the development of the Rural Affordable Housing Needs Model for Berkshire. Drawing on census data, housing market information and housing register data from Berkshire’s local authorities, it provides a parish-level picture of where affordable housing need is most acute and the likely scale of annual need.

While the model is not intended to replace local housing needs surveys, it helps shine a spotlight on often-overlooked rural housing issues and strengthens the evidence base for future rural housing work across Berkshire.

The data has also helped us better understand another issue frequently raised by rural residents: the loss of affordable homes through market sales. By combining local survey feedback with information from housing providers and Rural Housing Enablers across the ACRE network, we’re building a clearer picture of the challenges facing rural affordable housing and helping ensure these issues are heard by decision-makers at a national level.

Rural Housing Week is a timely reminder that affordable housing isn’t about large-scale development—it’s about meeting local needs, supporting thriving communities and ensuring local people have the opportunity to live in the places they call home. [see-media.foleon.com]

If you’d like to find out more about affordable housing needs in your community, or the support available through Berkshire’s Rural Housing Enabler service, we’d love to hear from you.

Retaining Rural Affordable Homes: Exploring a Regeneration Approach

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by Maria Kelly, Rural Housing Enabler

A recent report on the social housing stock in an east Berkshire parish concluded that factors including the age of stock, along with regulatory and financial pressures, could lead the Registered Provider (RP) to dispose of up to 40% of its current homes in the parish by 2035. That amounts to 14 homes.

This particular RP is actively engaged in seeking sites for new affordable homes in the parish and working closely with our Rural Housing Enabler. Despite this, it will be a huge challenge to build enough new homes to replace those lost, let alone to meet the increasing need for affordable housing in the parish.

CCB recognises that housing associations managing large numbers of older properties, particularly those built before the 1980s, face challenges in making them more comfortable and affordable to live in (warmer and more energy efficient). In rural areas, however, we strongly believe that simply selling older stock on the open market once it becomes vacant is not the answer.

Once a socially rented home is sold to a private buyer, the land is effectively lost to the sector. In rural areas, it is extremely difficult to find land for new affordable housing in the same community. There are many reasons for this, but the result is that as these homes are sold off, the supply of affordable housing dwindles—sometimes to just one remaining property, and eventually none at all. This trend has serious consequences for rural communities.

So what can be done?

One potential solution is for RPs to regenerate their rural sites, rather than relying solely on retrofitting (e.g. adding insulation or heat pumps) or disposal. New provision within the Homes England Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP) offers increased grant funding for housing providers who need to demolish older homes and replace them, on the same site, with new, higher-quality homes.

Regeneration is often associated with urban areas, but what might it look like in a rural setting where affordable homes are dispersed across a village and interspersed with privately owned and rented properties? How would communities be involved? And could registered providers afford to do it?

We cannot answer these questions alone, so we want to work with Altair Social Housing Consultants to explore whether rural regeneration is a viable option in our region. There is a cost to this work, and we need to raise at least £5,000 – ideally more – in order to undertake it.

We are grateful that one of our Rural Thames Valley partners, SOHA, has already agreed to contribute £1,250. Other local organisations involved in affordable housing are also considering whether they can support this piece of work.

This project will give us a much clearer understanding of what rural regeneration might look like in practice, including the costs, practicalities and potential benefits.

If you would like to find out more about this, or anything else relating to rural housing in Berkshire, please contact Maria.Kelly@ccberks.org.uk.

Government Funding to Help Vulnerable Households with Rising Heating Oil Prices

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On 16 March 2026, the Government announced £53 million of financial support to be allocated across the nations of the UK to address the rising cost of heating oil. In England, £27 million is being made available, targeted at areas with higher reliance on oil heating, to support people in crisis facing sharp increases in oil heating prices. This support is being delivered through the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF). Not every local authority will receive additional funding, but all local authorities are expected to support vulnerable households who use heating oil through their CRF

Vulnerable households in England who heat their homes with oil may be able to get support from their local authority through the CRF. The CRF helps low-income households facing financial difficulties due to a sudden or unexpected cost, including rising heating oil prices. Not every household using heating oil will be eligible – support is targeted at those most in need and eligibility will vary by local authority.

The Crisis and Resilience Fund can be used to support households reliant on alternative fuel sources other than heating oil, such as LPG. Guidance to Authorities is clear that Crisis Payments can be used to support energy costs for any form of fuel used for domestic heating, cooking or lighting, including oil or portable gas cylinders. It is for Authorities to determine individual need and the most appropriate form of support, using a person-centred, needs based approach in line with the Fund’s guidance.

Visit your local authority’s website (latest links below) or contact them directly if you think you may be eligible for support.

West Berkshire Council: https://www.westberks.gov.uk/article/45533/Crisis-and-Resilience-Fund
Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead: https://www.rbwm.gov.uk/community-and-living/community-support/here-help
Wokingham Borough households: https://www.wokingham.gov.uk/cost-living/crisis-and-resilience-fund
Latest from Slough Borough: https://democracy.slough.gov.uk/mgIssueHistoryHome.aspx?IId=50951&Opt=0
Latest from Reading Borough: https://www.reading.gov.uk/benefits-and-financial-support/money-matters/crisis-and-resilience-fund/
Latest from Bracknell Forest Council: https://www.bracknell-forest.gov.uk/benefits-and-support/crisis-payment-scheme

From Oxfordshire to Berkshire: Celebrating Community-Led Housing Intiatives

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By Maria Kelly, Rural Housing Enabler

On Saturday 21st February I attended a meeting of the Oxfordshire Community Led Housing Group, hosted by Stonesfield Community Trust at the cosy White Horse Community Pub, Stonesfield.  Stonesfield Community Trust, established in 1983, it was one of the first Community Land Trusts in the UK.  It owns and manages affordable housing in the village for people with a local connection, and the White Horse pub.  The meeting was attended by representatives from several local Community Land Trusts (CLTs) and other community led housing organisations, all at different stages of the journey and facing different challenges and opportunities.

During the day we explored how groups can work better together to deliver a growing potential pipeline of community -led homes, particularly in rural areas where finding suitable land and traditional Housing Associations to develop homes can be difficult.  We took a walk around Stonesfield to look at some of the homes built and managed by the Trust, which blend seamlessly with the older architecture of the village. We looked at a new area in the heart of the village where a glove factory operated in the 1970s, which will soon be the site of three new affordable rented homes built by the Trust.  The new houses will be adjacent to the picturesque Stonesfield Church and Oxfordshire’s oldest gaol – a listed ‘lock up’ owned by the Blenheim estate! 

Thank you to Fiona Brown and Kay Sentance from Community First Oxfordshire for inviting me along, and to the CLTs attending for making me feel so welcome.

There are many ways that communities can own and lead on the development of community assets such as housing and facilities – just consider the amazing work of village hall trustees and parish councils. One of Berkshires few Community land Trusts is Windsor Ascot and Maidenhead CLT, (Home – Windsor Ascot Maidenhead Community Land Trust) which is being supported by CCB to take on affordable housing and other assets in the Royal Borough. Through freehold ownership, CLTs can ensure that housing and other assets are available to the community in perpetuity and cannot be sold off privately or otherwise lost. 

If you are interested in finding out more about Community Land Trusts, contact maria.kelly@ccberks.org.uk

Understanding the Future of Rural Affordable Housing

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As part of our work to support the provision of affordable housing in rural communities, we have been working with colleagues across the rural Thames Valley region and across England to build a better picture of the condition and future of existing rural affordable housing stock.

Much of the rural affordable housing currently in use was built between the post‑war period and the 1970s. While the need for affordable housing in rural areas has increased, in some areas the supply has declined. Homes have been sold onto the open market and not replaced locally. This trend is concerning for rural communities and presents a significant challenge for Rural Housing Enablers and Local Authorities seeking to increase housing supply to meet growing need.

To better understand what is happening and why, CCB is exploring how housing providers manage their rural housing stock and the factors that influence decisions to sell rural affordable homes.

In November 2025, Sovereign Network Group (SNG), West Berkshire’s main provider of rural affordable housing, gave a presentation to the West Berkshire Council Resources and Place Scrutiny Committee. A recording of the meeting is available to view here:
https://www.youtube.com/live/aDHDdoW76ik

Rural residents across Berkshire have shared concerns about the sale of affordable rural homes, many of which are owned by SNG. During their presentation, SNG explained their approach to stock management and the decision‑making process around property sales. This short film brings together some of the key points from that presentation and highlights the important questions it raised.

🎥 Watch the film:

To find out more about our research into the loss of rural affordable homes, please visit our project webpage:
Research into market sales of affordable rural homes | Connecting Communities in Berkshire

If you are aware of sales of affordable homes in your rural community, please let us know by completing our short survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DNFBXP7

Alternatively, you can contact our Rural Housing Enabler directly at maria.kelly@ccberks.org.uk.