PROVIDING MUIR HOMES IN RURAL AREAS MEANS COMMUNITIES CAN STAY TOGETHER WITHOUT COSTING THE EARTH
PROVIDING affordable housing in rural areas is vital to keeping communities together.
Often, rising house prices can result in people having to move away from an area in which they’ve grown up, where family and friends live, in pursuit of affordable accommodation.
It isn’t just sale prices that rise, but rental prices too, with housing becoming more sought after due to increasing village populations - where a rise in numbers outweighs the number of new homes being developed.
Muir Group Housing Association has a history of developing affordable living opportunities in rural settings, be it on the fringes of larger towns, or in more remote areas.
Muir’s Development Manager, Alex Fury (pictured) said: “It is important to give rural communities the chance to stay together, without people feeling forced away by rising prices in order to live an affordable lifestyle.
“At Muir we recognise the importance of providing people and families with affordable homes in areas that they love, and this is reflected in our historic, and current, building strategies.”
During 2017-18, Muir completed development on a number of properties in Farndon, Cheshire.
With a population of just over 1,600 people, Muir’s Fern Hill homes (top right) were a very valuable but affordable addition to life in the village, giving people a choice of both rented and shared ownership accommodation in a place where getting on the property ladder could otherwise prove impossible for young families wanting to remain.
Muir is also building affordable homes in the Lincolnshire lands of Bourne (14,000 people) and Baston (above)– where a population of 1,440 people inhabit just over 550 homes at its picture postcard setting on the edge of England’s beautiful Fenlands.
Last year, Muir provided newly built homes for affordable rent on the outskirts of Melton Mowbray, at Scalford Road (left).
While the Lincolnshire town is much larger than your average rural village, a growing population of more than 25,000 people, and its
popular situation on the River Eye and the River Wreake, means the need for more affordable housing increases year on year.
Committing to providing new affordable homes in areas such as these represent just a few examples of how Muir continues to invest in people and rural communities, just as it has in more urban areas, during its 50-year history as a dedicated social housing provider.