LUDLOW and south Shropshire has a special interest in a week of events to raise awareness of rural housing.

Rural Housing Week, an annual event aimed at raising awareness of the issues surrounding rural housing.

It aims to shine a light on innovation and developers that are making a difference in this area.

Shropshire is well above the national average when it come to the number of people living in rural households, one third of us do, as opposed to the national average of 18.9%.

“The need for rural housing is immense, however developers need to work with the community both on the design of the development and what added value they can bring as part of their proposal, “ said Jake Berriman, chief executive of the Shropshire Housing Group.

Shropshire Housing Group is one of the leaders in this area having assisted the community of Neenton in saving their pub. Seven new homes were built, two of which were retained as shared ownership properties for local people and the other five were sold on the open market.

The profits from the sale of those five homes were used to fund the renovation of The Pheasant pub, which has been unoccupied since 2006 and to support its reopening in community hands.

As part of Rural Housing Week, the team at Shropshire Housing Group met with parish councillors from across south Shropshire to discuss their particular needs both just in terms of housing but also other local amenities and how the group can help them achieve those ambitions.