Housing Needs Survey

The Parish Councils of Sibford Ferris and Sibford Gower are co-operating in a Housing Needs Survey of both villages, sponsored by the Banbury District Housing Coalition (OBDHC) with the support of Banbury Homes. The idea is to assess the needs of local families, so that adequate low-cost (but not low quality) housing can be built in the villages, thus ensuring that families are not needlessly broken up. The questionnaire for the Survey is being distributed with your copy of The Sibford Scene this month. BDHC is best known locally for its work with the Beacon Centre and emergency winter shelter, and it cooperates with the local housing association, Banbury Homes, on a rent deposit guarantee scheme. Banbury Homes is a division of Shaftesbury Homes, a Christian-led charity founded in the last century. Banbury Homes will be managing the analysis of the survey and will treat all responses in a completely confidential manner. Any housing built as a result will be under special planning provisions, which mean that it cannot provide an opening for developers greedy for village land. Please do respond to the questionnaire, even if your family has absolutely no need for local housing (or indeed, if you have no family). It will be collected from you (and there is a freepost envelope provided with it), so it will cost you nothing but a few a minutes of time; and the more complete the picture provided by the survey, the more credibility it will have. There will be families who may benefit; your time in answering these questions can help them.