Credit crunch study finds small businesses working at home to save cash
Repossessions of homes in the countryside have yet to peak, according to a new report.
An interim report into the effects of credit crunch on rural areas found a Lincolnshire community organisations reported a “marked increase” in repossessions and also arrears, which indicated there could be further repossessions to come.
Community organsiations elsewhere reported that tenants were behind with their rent payments.
The evidence collected from rural community groups by the Commission for Rural Communities will be passed to Liverpool University regeneration expert Michael Parkinson to include in his report on the impact of the credit crunch on regeneration for the government.
The respondents said while the credit crunch was making some housing association developments unviable it also meant that rural developments on exception sites might become more attractive. Exception site schemes are funded by housing associations and the Housing Corporation, rather than developers, and the sites are cheaper than usual because they can only be used for affordable housing.
In Derwentside a multi-million pound land bid was withdrawn suddenly and so the selling company had to make redundancies, the report said.
A business support organisation in County Durham said small firms were moving out of business incubation units and working from home to save money. Some areas were hit by the double blow of the credit crunch and losing European funding and various government funds for economic development which had been abolished or changed their criteria.
