A major new campaign to press for the building of thousands of low-cost houses in rural areas is launched today as a joint venture between developers and several countryside protection bodies.

Without such housing, say the organisers, “many villages and rural areas will become enclaves of the wealthy, with local shops and services a distant memory.”

Using the slogan “Affordable housing keeps villages alive” the National Housing Federation has worked with the Campaign to Protect Rural England, the Countryside Alliance, and the soon to be scrapped Commission for Rural Communities to produce a new set of guide lines to encourage new building plans.

The lack of affordable housing in the countryside has been a growing problem for at least 220 years and as now reached crisis proportions.

The new campaign has produced a set of chilling statistics to back its case:

• 13 rural pubs are shutting down each week – almost two every day
• 400 rural shops are expected to close this year
• 62 village primary schools were closed between 2004 ands 2008
• 200 more village schools are projected to close by 2014

David Orr, National Housing Federation chief executive, says: “Unless we build more affordable homes for the local families who sustain and enrich village life, then we must accept that traditional community life will be wiped out within a generation in many areas.”