Do not retire to countryside as homes unsafe, elderly told

ELDERLY people should not retire to the countryside as they end up stuck in unsafe and oversized homes, a think tank report has warned.

The Social Market Foundation has said that the uneven ageing of different parts of the country is creating “unequal” and “growing” pressure on services and local economies.

Scott Corfe, research director at the cross-party think tank, warned that moving from urban areas to the coast or the countryside could have “unforeseen consequences” for older people.

“Too many retirees end up in unsuitable, oversized and often unsafe homes, while rising property prices exclude younger families from local housing.

“Local authority areas where the majority of residents are over 65 could struggle to provide their populations with adequate services, and such communities may lack cohesion and intergenerational mixing.”

Many rural parts of the UK have ageing populations, and amongst the top 20 local authorities forecast to have the highest proportion of over-65 households by 2043, almost all are either rural or coastal communities.

He added: “Housing options that allowed more older people to choose to retire in towns and cities would offer benefits to retirees, to urban economies and to wider society.”

It is estimated that two million older people suffer physical and mental ill health and even death owing to living in substandard and non-accessible homes.

Over the next 30 years, the number of over 65s is expected to rise by 7.5 per cent to 8.5 million.

The research found that increased housing supply pressures in countryside areas meant older people often remained in under-occupied homes because of a lack of suitable or desirable accommodation elsewhere.

Rural households in England spend a third more to heat and power their homes than urban households do on average.

The recent energy crisis means that rural homeowners living in oil-powered properties will see a steep increase in prices.

The government’s climate change adviser has previously described the pressures to “urbanise the countryside” as “antagonistic” to dealing with climate change.

Lord Deben, the chairman of the Government’s climate change committee, said: “When people move into the countryside you just have to say to them that this is not the town and you don’t have street lighting in the village, you have a torch, that’s how you do it.”