PARTS of the Housing and Planning Bill have been described as a "potential catastrophe" for the delivery of affordable homes in rural areas.

East Hampshire District Council leader Ferris Cowper was critical of parts of the bill recently while speaking to MPs at Westminster.

He particularly picked out plans allowing developers to renegotiate the tenure of affordable homes as ‘"a dreadful idea."

The Department for Communities and Local Government Select Committee invited Cllr Cowper to give evidence on the viability and sustainability of housing associations.

The inquiry is looking at the proposed extension of Right to Buy and how this and a number of other government measures may impact on the ability of housing associations to build new homes.

Addressing the committee, chaired by Labour MP Clive Betts, Cllr Cowper said the plans could possibly lead to no rentable social housing left in East Hampshire.

He said: “This has got potential catastrophe written all over it. It is a dreadful idea and I would urge you to give very serious consideration to the consequences in a rural area like mine.”

Cllr Cowper explained that the average house price here are far out of the reach of many residents and schemes such as 20 per cent discounts on starter homes and shared ownership still do not make homes affordable for those most in need.

He also raised concerns that homes sold through the extension of the Right To Buy scheme will not be replaced in rural areas.

He said he had been working for 16 years for affordable homes to be built in Grayshott, his home village, but the proposals threatened to undermine that work.

“Under the proposals as we currently understand them, if a house is bought under the Right to Buy scheme it will be replaced, but not necessarily in Grayshott, so I can watch all the painstakingly accumulated affordable housing stock in my village built up and under these proposals sold off and replaced in Fareham or Gosport or Eastleigh,” he said.

This is the first time a representative from the district council has been invited to speak to such a committee.

He said: “It was a rare honour to be invited to give evidence to the Select Committee and I was delighted to be given the opportunity to speak to MPs about the Housing and Planning Bill.

"Never-the-less it was vital that I spoke up for East Hampshire because some of the proposed changes, particularly to housing association rents, potentially have very damaging consequences for the delivery of affordable housing in this district.

“Rural areas like ours face unique difficulties when it comes to providing homes that are within reach of many of our residents and some of the policies within the bill threaten to exacerbate these problems."