MORE houses must be built on rural land if the shortage of affordable homes for country people is to be met, says Housing Minister Caroline Flint.

It is a view that will gain support from one section of people in the Yorkshire Dales – and be vehemently opposed by others.

Ms Flint was touching on a subject which has become one if the most bitter debates in popular rural areas like the Dales: soaring house prices boosted by wealthy incomers which are driving young local couples from villages where their families have lived for generations.

The only way to solve this problem is by building starter homes on new sites in the countryside, a move which, says the minister, is “vociferously opposed” by some residents.

These views bring into sharp focus a housing situation which splits the western Yorkshire Dales into two: the area within the national park has seen virtually no new building for years whereas the area outside the park in the Craven district has seen many villages swamped by new housing estates.

This is despite the fact that the Skipton Building Society has offered £10 million to subsidise starter home schemes in the park – an offer which has not led to a single house being built.

But outside the park, protest groups have been formed in villages on the busy A65 trunk route to prevent further building. Local residents claim that traditional village community life is being is being crushed under the weight of new arrivals.