August 30th 2002: Claire Moriarty looks into the reasons why councils are obliged to identify land to accommodate new homes as she continues her series on the implications of building at Barton Farm, Winchester

NEW homes should be popping up in the South-East at a rate of 39,000 every year, according to deputy prime minister, John Prescott.

But, for the last two years, local authorities have been off target by 10,000.

This means there is a massive mismatch between the number of houses available and the number of people who want to live in the area.

Property prices have shot up, cutting young people and lower-earners out of the market.

Earlier this year, Winchester made the top 10 list of worst places to look for a home for first-time buyers, with the average house price now at £167, 321 and a new survey has found that 7% of people in Winchester earn over £60,000.

The city came 34th in a list of places with the largest number of affluent people, behind London suburbs such as Twickenham, Richmond and Hampstead.

"There are wealthy people moving out of London and that's putting pressure on house prices," said Paul Butler, from Winchester's Housing Association. "There are more expensive properties on the open market and local people are unable to compete.

"The demand for affordable housing also becomes greater, and from our point of view it's becoming more and more difficult. There's a finite supply of existing properties in Winchester, and one of the only ways to address that is with further development."

People around Winchester are desperate for more housing. When plans to build a new settlement near Micheldever were announced six years ago, over 4,500 people snapped up the free certificates available to Hampshire residents, giving them priority if the town was ever built.

Micheldever Station New Town, which could have housed 12,500 people, never made it past the planning stage, but the need is still there.

Andrew Palmer, from Winchester City Council's housing department, said: "The last housing need survey we did was in 1999. That showed there were approximately 2,600 households in the district in need of affordable accommodation, but I would expect that figure to have increased by now. We're starting a new housing need study very soon for that reason."

It is this demand that prompted the Government to ask Hampshire County Council to provide 42,000 new houses, and reserve sites for up to 14,000 more.

Barton Farm, north of Winchester, could become a reserve site to house almost 5,000 people-but there has to be "compelling justification" before it can be used.

The strategic planning authority would have to show house-building rates were not meeting targets laid out in the county structure plan.

A monitoring body has been set up to look at demand for housing and supply, and assess whether the release of reserve sites would be justified.

If reserve provision was needed, the authority would choose which site to use for housing. It would take into account the strength of the housing market, the infrastructure and employment figures.

At the moment, the monitoring body says there is enough housing planned to meet requirements, but pressure is on the county council to produce the homes.

In his speech, Mr Prescott said he would take tougher action on authorities which failed to meet their housing targets.

"Tackling housing shortage is a national responsibility and we must all play our part. I am therefore putting local authorities on notice that, where they fail to meet their targets, I will take action to intervene," he said.

Housing developers, Cala Homes (South) Ltd, have been linked to Barton Farm since it was identified as a possible reserve site.

The company has "control" of the site-it owns the freehold, while Winchester College owns the lease-and would carry out building work were it to get the go-ahead.

Simon Prescott, from consultants, Mason Richards Planning, working with Cala Homes, said: "We think we have the best site and we are working with the local authority as it undertakes further studies to identify which site should come forward. We obviously firmly believe we have the most sustainable and most appropriate site."

He said that at the moment the plan was to include 30% affordable housing in the development, which would be made up of flats and housing for the elderly as well as larger family homes.

Asked whether the extra people would place even more pressure on Winchester's busy roads, he said: "The infrastructure for the major development area will itself bring forward improvements to the surrounding area.

"Barton Farm is particularly sustainable because it's so close to the city centre. People will have the opportunity to walk, cycle and use public transport."