Local affordable housing plans boosted by MP

3.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 1st Oct 2007

Local MP Tim Farron will meet today with the Affordable Housing Committee of Underbarrow Parish Council to update them on the progress of his affordable housing campaign. Mr Farron will set out his innovative 'home on the farm' concept, whereby farm outbuildings could be sold off and converted into affordable housing for local residents and essential agricultural workers.

Mr Farron will also reveal to the parish council how he has been pressing the national parks authority on becoming more flexible in allowing changes to existing buildings to convert them into affordable housing.

Ahead of the meeting, Tim Farron said:

"It is great to see a community working together to find solutions rather than just identifying problems. I accept that it is difficult to find sites for affordable housing that tick all the boxes for the planners, but where housing is concerned we must be opportunistic. So long as a site identified as viable for affordable housing is acceptable to the local community, I think the possibility of building on it should be explored."