IT is hardly surprising that the folk who live in East Lancashire's most scenic valley should support Environment Minister Michael Meacher's proposed ban on wealthy people owning second homes in the countryside.

Mr Meacher's views earned him a rebuke from Downing Street.

But Ribble Valley councillor Margaret Sutcliffe has come out in support, saying that the countryside was becoming "a dormitory for young executives and pensioners."

The government appears to have got itself in a tangle over an issue which is causing great concern in many rural communities.

On the one hand it argues that sustainable communities must be created in the countryside. But when one of its own ministers suggests a solution to the problem he gets his knuckles rapped.

Young people, who are the future of villages in areas like the Ribble Valley, the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District, are being forced to move out because they can no longer afford property. It is being snapped up by wealthy people from cities and towns who want a second home for weekends and holidays.

Villages are having their hearts ripped out. There are many in the Lake District which are dead from Sunday night to Friday night because there are hardly any real "locals" left.

And the same trend is developing in the Ribble Valley, where one farmer is forced to live in a mobile home because he cannot afford a house in his village.

The government has got to come off the fence on this issue. It has to protect rural communities from the ruthless advance of the second home brigade by earmarking a proportion of rural properties for young local people or introducing price ceilings.

If it fails to take action, villages in beauty spots throughout Britain will become ghost communities.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.