Company attracts young to Dales with offer of subsidised housing
THE AGE gap between communities is at its most profound in the Yorkshire Dales and other deeply rural parts of the county, where populations are growing old at up to twice the rate of the rest of the UK, according to recent figures.
The disparity is said to be most acute in the Richmondshire district, where the proportion of residents over 65 has risen by six per cent since 2001. The council there has adopted a package of measures to attract families and younger people to the area, to redress the balance.
But Carl Les, leader of North Yorkshire County Council, said it was not an isolated issue. “I’m not surprised at the Richmondshire figures, and I would imagine that Craven won’t be far behind. Scarborough and the coast, too,” he said.
In the countryside near Skipton, one company has found its own partial solution by offering new recruits their own home at a subsidised rate, while they settle in.
Peel Entertainment, a group of creative and technology companies, puts them up at a property near the 16th century Broughton Hall, where it has its headquarters. The surrounding estate hosts more than 50 firms in refurbished coach houses, barns and stable buildings.
The company’s managing director, Susannah Daley, said: “It’s quite a struggle to get young people to relocate to a rural area, and we really have to work hard at finding ways to do it.
“So we now have property for people to move into, to save them the worry of finding a home.”
She said a traditional hurdle to rural life among those used to a city was a reluctance to commit before having decided whether they liked the lifestyle.
“People didn’t want to buy or rent a home for six months or a year until they had tried out the job and the area,” she said.
“So now, if we offer someone a job, they get a room in the house. They pay for it at a subsidised rate and it gives them a chance to acclimatise to the area.
“If they like it, then some people do go on and buy or rent in the area.
“And that’s incredibly useful because too often young people leave and don’t come back until they’re in their 30s, when they become attracted to the good schools around Skipton.”
It’s a struggle to get young people to relocate to a rural area. Susannah Daley, managing director of Peel Entertainment.