What is the Government doing to help young people in the Dales stay local?

It says something about our MP that even the leader of the Derbyshire Dales District Council, the Conservative Lewis Rose OBE, objects to an ill-considered government measure on affordable housing. A new threshold for central government planning (around 10 units or less) was announced on the 28th November, meaning that developers will have far less of an obligation to provide affordable housing across the district.

A recent Guardian article (found here: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jan/13/affordable-rural-housing-new-threat) highlights how the reforms listed on the DDDC website will hurt the Dales (http://www.derbyshiredales.gov.uk/your-council/news-and-publications/latest-news/1849-policy-reforms-to-hit-future-affordable-housing-provision). I'll give credit to Lewis Rose for not simply toeing the party line. Indeed, if his quotes were ascribed to opposition leaders you wouldn't question the source: "they torpedoed our scheme (£1.2 million over 10 years to deliver more than 1,000 homes) at a stroke by an arbitrary change to planning rules...It came out of the blue. It meant that our whole affordable housing strategy was severely damaged. I was appalled".

The topic of affordable housing is a serious issue across the whole country, but in the Dales this comes back to a point I made when I was first selected as the Parliamentary Candidate for the Liberal Democrats; the area may superficially have an affluent image, but the reality is quite different. As a young person myself, affordable housing certainly seems a long way off, and I think I can say that the feeling is mutual for many young people across the area.

Some more credit to Lewis, as he has questioned Patrick McLoughlin on the issue, who was "taken aback because he realises the seriousness of the matter". The Guardian article notes that Patrick will be looking into it, but somehow I doubt that the status quo will be challenged. The Derbyshire Dales is a beautiful part of the world to live in, but I don't want it to be exclusive to a minority, or too expensive for the majority. The Dales is for young people, too.