Soaring rents price middle earners out of rural areas in South

Middle earners in the South are being priced out of the countryside because of surging rents, analysis reveals.

Those earning the median income would see more than half their salary eaten up by rent in 15 rural local authorities, the Council for the Preservation of Rural England (CPRE) found.

The charity said the most unaffordable areas to rent in Britain were Sevenoaks, Kent; Bath and north- east Somerset; Tandridge, Surrey; Chichester, West Sussex; and Lewes, East Sussex, based on analysis of figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Rents in the countryside are increasing at close to twice the rate of those in urban areas, the CPRE said.

Last year rents in rural areas soared by 27pc, compared to a 17pc rise nationally over the last five years. The charity said rising rents made it difficult for households to maintain a decent standard of living.

The CPRE called on policymakers to “redefine the term affordable housing so that the cost of these homes is directly linked to what people on average local incomes can afford, rather than to market prices”. It also urged ministers to make it easier for councils to buy land at lower prices for social housing and suggested a register for second homes and short-term lets, with higher council taxes for second home owners.

A spokesman said: “It’s alarming that people on middle incomes ... can no longer afford to live in many parts of rural England.”

There is mounting pressure on Rishi Sunak to scrap EU rules that are blocking up to 150,000 homes from being built.

Senior Tories including former ministers Sir Simon Clarke and Robert Jenrick have urged the Prime Minister to scrap “nutrient neutrality” planning laws to allow more sites to be developed.

Landlords have warned that rents will continue to rise if no-fault evictions are banned. MPs have also lobbied the Government to overhaul the Renters Reform Bill, which would replace no-fault evictions with rolling tenancies.

Meanwhile, social housing is at its lowest level in a decade: the charity Shelter estimates there has been an annual loss of 24,000 social homes since 1991.