6 Housing

Issues and Priorities

  • The region's population has been increasing rapidly, entirely as a result of migration. In addition, there have been the effects of social change and its impact on the formation of households: people are living longer, more are choosing to live alone and marital break-ups are splitting families over more than one household. As a result, the demand for housing in the South West has been increasing faster than the national trend.1
  • This rapid growth in the number of households has placed significant demands on the region to provide more housing. After a relatively slow start, the rate at which additional dwellings are being completed in the South West has now only just met the housing targets outlined in Regional Planning Guidance 10 (RPG10) for the period 1996-2006. In 2003-2004 the number of dwelling completions exceeded RPG10 targets for the first time and this trend continued into 2005 - 2006.