Housing officers from across North Yorkshire are stepping up their campaign to keep village life ‘alive’.

They are lobbying local MPS to help encourage the development of more affordable homes to keep young people in the communities they grew up in – and enable small village shops and pubs to survive.

Members of the North Yorkshire Rural Housing Enablers (RHE) network – which brings together the eight districts in North Yorkshire and York – say that until additional government cash is pumped into rural affordable housing local pubs, shops and schools are in danger of closure.

In the past year pubs have closed in villages across the Yorkshire Dales including Brompton, Danby Wiske, Ripon, Thrintoft and Settle. Shops have closed in Settle and garages shut up shop in Settle and Sutton under Whitestonecliffe.

“Villages face a slow death without local people – both young and old – being able to access affordable housing,” said Chair of the RHE Network, Councillor Jane Mortimer from Scarborough. “Local amenities such as shops and pubs are forced to shut and it puts local village schools in danger of closure.”

Hambleton District Council’s Rural Housing Enabler, Amanda Madden, added that the provision of local homes in rural communities can play a key role in the economy of a village.

“It can keep local services and facilities operating – many of them employ local people and act as the hub of the village,” she said.

“Many young people and lower income earners cannot afford to live in rural parts of North Yorkshire – it is becoming the preserve of the wealthy. We are working with local communities and carrying out parish surveys to assess the local housing need as we bid to increase the supply of affordable homes and secure a sustainable future for all communities.”

Nationally over 315,000 households are currently registered on housing waiting lists in rural areas – in North Yorkshire alone there are almost 12,400 on the list with officers believing the true level of need is much higher.

“Until additional government funding is pumped into this issue the desperately needed rural affordable housing will remain unbuilt in the areas that they are needed resulting in dormitory communities with no heart or soul,” she added.

The North Yorkshire Rural Housing Enablers network is made up of housing officers from City of York, Craven, Hambleton, Harrogate, Richmondshire, Ryedale, Scarborough and Selby councils.

The National Housing Federation, the British Beer and Pub Association and the Rural Shops Alliance last week warned that 650 village pubs and 400 shops will close over the next 12 months and pointed the finger at the ‘chronic shortage’ of affordable homes.