Planning Conference on Affordable Housing – Presentations

With housing a major campaign issue for all political parties, not least the new Labour Government, the Dorset branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England’s (CPRE) conference on the 20th June titled, ‘Dorset’s Affordable Housing Crisis’ was timely.

Dorset CPRE feels strongly that the delivery of the housing that addresses the county’s real needs requires careful consideration. To help understand the issues more fully that face the nation generally, Dorset specifically and consider potential solutions, Dorset CPRE organised a free online conference on Thursday 20th June 2024 with presentations by national and local experts in Affordable Housing.

Speakers & links to their Presentations

The Conference was chaired by the Crossbench Peer and Social Housing Leader, Lord Richard Best, with an introduction by Dorset CPRE President and former BBC Chief News Correspondent, Kate Adie.

Speakers included:

• Mike Allen, Dorset CPRE Planning Group. Mike’s presentation sets the scene from the Dorset CPRE perspective and considers how many homes Dorset really needs, what type of homes and how they can be delivered and funded
• Dr Quintin Bradley, Senior Lecturer in Planning and Housing at Leeds Beckett University, Affordable Housing Need
• Alison Ward, Director at Middlemarch Community Led Housing, Community Land Trusts
• Paul Derrien, Housing Enabling Team Leader at Dorset Council, Affordable and Social Housing in Dorset
• Elizabeth Bundred-Woodward, Planning Policy Lead at National CPRE, and Brad Taylor, Rural Policy and Campaigns Officer at National CPRE, joint presentation on Rural Affordable Housing

Please check Dorset CPRE’s YouTube channel for recordings of the presentations that have been released. We will continue to add the video recordings as they become available.

Rupert Hardy, chair North Dorset CPRE Group, has written an article on the main points covered in the conference for the July edition of the New Blackmore Vale magazine.