Steve Cowley, Yarmouth Town Council School Site Steering Committee:

It is generally accepted that there is a housing crisis, and it Yarmouth this is evident.

The lack of affordable housing is impacting many people who cannot get a home of their own.

The lack of working age people is now impacting on other services.

Yarmouth Fire Brigade no longer has enough retained firefighters so no fire engine is stationed at Yarmouth.

Yarmouth Lifeboat are also struggling for crew and some pubs and restaurants are having to reduce opening hours due to lack of staff.

Many residents now understand that this is a problem.

This showed in the survey conducted by Yarmouth Town Council about possible future uses of the Yarmouth School site where over 60per cent of responses supported the provision of Affordable Housing.

Neither government or the Isle of Wight Council seem to have the ability to build affordable housing here on the Island.

Community Led Housing – a growing movement national - which is supported by both the Government and the Isle of Wight Council is the path by which small schemes can be built, but as the name implies it does mean the community have to be involved.

The town council has initiated this proposal for the school site.

The Yarmouth Town Council plan is for eight units of two and three bedroom affordable houses to be let to families who have a family connection with Yarmouth or have been employed here for some time.

The houses will be owned by the community in perpetuity, and cannot be sold.