KINGSBRIDGE Town Council could build homes in response to the severe housing crisis in the area.

Currently at the very early stages of the potential project, the council has realised the desperate position many local residents are in and is looking to do something about it.

Realising that the ‘affordable houses’ delivered by the district council are way out of reach for many local people, and the fact that no houses have been built in the town since 2010, the council is ‘thinking outside the box’.

It owns a small plot of land off Derby Road and is looking into the possibility of building houses on the site.

This is a complicated idea, with Kingsbridge Feoffees having an option on the land until 2018, but there is the possibility of working with the feoffees to build homes for local people.

According to a report for Devon County Council in February 2014, the average wage in the South Hams is £20,301.

The average house price in the South Hams in 2013 was £298,000 and rising. ‘Affordable housing’ is calculated at 80 per cent of market value – around £238,400 – much higher than the average couple can afford.

While many young people are unable to buy a house, they rent. But paying rents leaves it impossible for them to save for a deposit.

Some young people live with their parents – if they are lucky enough to have that option. But others are left renting – and when they retire, their pension will not cover the rent.

For more on this story, see this week’s Kingsbridge & Salcombe Gazette