Urgent call for affordable housing launched in Amersham with 'young people priced out'

Cllr Kelly Thornton said affordable housing was something that residents in her ward “desperately need.” The Liberal Democrat member was questioning Cllr Mark Winn Buckinghamshire Councils cabinet housing at a full council meeting.

Cllr Thornton said: “The Council’s own report shows that only 245 affordable homes were made available by registered providers in the 2024-2025 period, yet there are nearly 5,000 live applications on the Bucks Home Choice Register.

“In my ward of Amersham and Chesham Bois, our young people and essential workers are being priced out. When will the cabinet move beyond strategic use of section 106 contributions and actually deliver the affordable housing numbers that our residents desperately need.”

In response Cllr Winn said the council was looking at section 106 funding for building affordable homes. He said: “But there were a lot of lets that happened in that year. There were over a thousand lets that were made within that year. So things are moving forward.

“And within the report, it mentions that there were 112 homes that will be built through section 106. So that’s really good news. But I also mentioned just now about the housing needs assessment within the local plan.

“And within that, 40 per cent of the homes coming forward will need to be affordable, and 59 per cent as I said would have to be at the social rented level which is the really affordable level. So that is something we are closely looking at and working towards.”