YOUNG people forced out of their own village by crippling house prices are to benefit from a new housing project in Sabden.

In recent years first-time buyers hoping to step on to the first rung of the housing ladder have not been able to afford homes in the village. And the high cost of rented homes has also left them looking elsewhere to live.

But now, thanks to a £700,000 scheme to build six one-bedroomed flats in the heart of the village, young people have moved back to the community where they grew up.

The flats are being offered with subsidised and affordable rents so that they can stay in Sabden.

The development, built by Manchester-based St Vincent's Housing Association, is the result of a Housing Needs Survey that identified an acute shortage of affordable housing in the village.

It is part of a wider project, run by Ribble Valley Council and St Vincent's, to tackle the shortage of affordable homes in rural parts of East Lancashire.

The Sabden flats, converted from a former commercial building in Padiham Road, have been taken up by people on the council's housing list who could demonstrate a strong link with the village.

Councillor Joyce Holgate, chairman of the council's housing committee and a former Sabden resident, welcomed the scheme, which will be officially opened tomorrow.

She said: "This is just what the young people of Sabden needs.

"Like many villages in the Ribble Valley, house prices in Sabden have risen to such a point where people growing up there can no longer afford to buy a house.

"As a result they have to leave the area and the community suffers."

Ribble Valley's housing crisis has been caused by commuters and people wanting holiday homes, sending house prices soaring.

The average terrace house in Sabden is selling for around £120,000.