FRUSTRATED residents upset with a lack of genuinely affordable homes in Ringwood have been told to make their voices heard to the planning authority, councillors and the region's MP.

The subject was debated at length at a town council meeting as members attempted to find solutions to the shortage of houses available on the market for young people to buy.

Councillors told residents they can understand their anger and will do their utmost to enact a positive change, although warned their voice is limited.

As the planning authority for the area, New Forest District Council is currently in the detailed process of compiling a 20-year local plan, which will outline sites that should be used for major housing developments and update relevant policies.

Cllr Steve Rippon-Swaine stressed the importance of taking a strong stance as a town council in response to the local plan, as once it is completed there is no way of changing it.

Residents shared their difficult experiences of attempting to get on the property ladder in Ringwood, which flagged a number of issues for councillors that they pledged to look into.

Cllr Jeremy Heron, who called for housing at a higher density across the town, said: "There has always been an interesting debate over housing, but actually if you look at it there is no shortage of land, there is quite a lot of it around and if building a house is not that expensive.

"The reason houses are expensive is because of legislation, paperwork. It is the only thing that makes a house expensive. If you could buy any piece of land anywhere and go and build a house all of a sudden house prices would tumble.

"The trouble is the paperwork and we are still trying to resolve the problem of paperwork by trying to put in more schemes. We need less bureaucracy if we are going to solve this."

A number of the residents raised issues with the current Linden Homes development at Crow Lane and the reported 'affordable homes' on the scheme, which in their opinion are not "anywhere near affordable".

On this subject, Cllr Philip Day said: "All of us as councillors would agree that claim is a disgrace. We do not want that to happen again.

"We do not want 'affordable houses'. We want cheap houses that people can afford to buy, not just technical definitions. It is completely misleading and by no means can someone afford to do it. We're looking to see what solutions we can find."

Councillors advised the public to lobby New Forest West MP Sir Desmond Swayne and New Forest District Council, as well as taking part in the consultation on the local plan when it released later this year.

It was resolved that the council would further seek to influence the district authority and relevant policies from the emerging local plan.