Everyone knows that housing in Britain today is unaffordable for many.
Whereas in 1997 a house might have cost three-and-half-times your salary - today that same home would set you back seven times your income.
In the South West... the situation is even more desperate...
House prices are typically 8 times the local average salary.
And here in North Cornwall that figure rises to an eye-watering 11 and a half times average household income!1
So think about the Nurse and Police officer who together bring home an annual pay packet of around £50,000...
Sounds like a pretty healthy income for a young couple...
...Yet the average house price around here is getting on for a quarter of a million pounds!
And our couple will need a deposit... oh, and money set aside for Stamp Duty too.
So before they can even negotiate a mortgage, they'll need a cool 50 grand (a year's joint salary) in spare cash - just tucked away.
And if that sounds like an uphill struggle for our Nurse and Police Officer...
... then how about farm hands and factory workers... taxi-drivers and window-cleaners... electricians, plumbers, bricklayers and mechanics...
... all local people - who are absolutely unable to afford local homes.
This exorbitant cost of housing is shutting out families; the building blocks of our communities...
...and, as a result...
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In the last eight years, dozens of village primary schools have closed...2
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13 rural pubs a week are calling last orders for the final time.3
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And thousands of shops... post offices... and GP Surgeries are disappearing from our villages...
There's a real danger that our countryside will become the exclusive preserve of those old enough to have already bought a home or rich enough to have a second home.
Attitudes towards rural life
Of course, the fact that you're here today probably means that you're already clued up on this...
And you won't be surprised by a recent survey4 into rural communities...
It paints a bleak picture of village life in 2009...
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1 in 4 said that their village's sense of community has diminished in the past few years.
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And two-thirds believe the Government cares more about urban areas than it does the countryside.
Why the crisis in affordability matters
Some argue that these things are simply down to the increasing transience of modern life...
After all, few of us are born... grow up... and raise families in the same area...
More people move for work or for social reasons...
It's true that the economy requires a flexible workforce and so perhaps we should have a relaxed attitude to the housing turmoil in our countryside?
I disagree.
And today, I promise to you that a Conservative Government will not stand-by and watch rural life falter and fade.
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We believe that people who grow-up in an area should have a chance to live there too.
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We believe that successful communities are built on opportunity for all in housing, employment and a thriving local economy
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We believe that affordability of housing is the key to that opportunity.
And we know that the current approach just isn't working.
HOUSE-BUILDING
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The Government says local people can't be trusted - so national targets and regional Quangos have been created to dictate your housing numbers.
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They say rural communities are all Nimbys - so you'll be told where and when you can build.
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They say Regional Spatial Strategies and Minister-knows-best is the only way forward - so the last thing you'll get is a say in the way that your own community develops.
The government has got it back-to-front...
In that poll I mentioned earlier two-thirds of people in rural areas said that they would support the construction of new affordable homes.
Far from being the source of the problem; local people can present the solution to today's rural housing crisis.
And you know what...?
There can be no finer example of locals really making it happen than in St Minver.
CLTs
Right here on your doorstep, there's been a quiet and, rather understated, rural revolution taking place!
You may have barely noticed it...
But mark my words; the St Minver Community Land Trust has achieved something which will have a truly nationwide impact!
Rock is reputedly one of the least affordable places in the world to purchase a home.
It's virtually impossible for first time buyers to get a foot on the ladder.
But rather than give up, enterprising locals banded together to create new homes in a Community Land Trust.
Community Land Trusts work because they can control future occupancy and affordability.
So the St Minver CLT has a covenant meaning these properties will be resold for less than a third of the average house price in Rock.
Rock's influence on CLT law
I visited Rock two years ago and saw this fledgling project as a building site.
I heard about all the hurdles that had been jumped to get the development started...
Chief among them - financing the scheme.
The lack of a legal definition for Community Land Trusts meant that lenders didn't get it.
So inspired by that visit, I returned to Westminster and managed to persuade the Government to legislate to recognise Community Land Trusts in Law.
It's a small step, but an important one.
And today, St Minver can be proud to have a piece of legislation - created in its own image.
Local people... local enterprise... creating affordable rural housing.
A movement with strong foundations right here...
And it's great to be in St Minver this evening - to announce that if we win the election there will be a nationwide Community Land Trust revolution.
Your experience has demonstrated what can be done when visionary people work together to create something new.
And I was delighted to come back to see the thriving new community that has been created today.
Self build
But there's something else about the Rock experience which is remarkable.
When I originally came to visit this Community Land Trust I knew that I'd be meeting a bunch of enthusiastic people who had real vision.
I also knew that this was a self-build project, so assumed that they would be busy designing... planning... and perhaps project managing their new community.
But what I wasn't expecting was to find was a group of people who were quite literally building their own new homes - brick by brick.
At 5pm they'd knock off from their day jobs and clock-in for the evening shift at their building site.
By pooling responsibilities and sharing their talents they were able to construct their new homes at an even more affordable rate.
Actually, as it turns out, taking responsibility for constructing your own home isn't as unusual as you might think.
Although most self-builders won't be personally mixing cement or laying foundations; they are a significant force in housing construction with an estimated 15,000 self-built homes put up last year...
...outperforming many of the established volume housebuilders.
They're not waiting for government subsidy or Whitehall targets... Regional Plans or faceless bureaucrats to give the okay...
Instead these local people are doing it for themselves.
And this self-build movement demonstrates how individuals can get together to build the future.
Inspired both by the people that I've met here in Cornwall and the wider self-build community, this evening I want to tell you how a Conservative government will back this dynamic new movement.
We will encourage self-builders to create social enterprises who can more powerfully present their proposals to local government.
This Self-Build Network will share ideas and resources... work with leading experts like architects and financiers... and became a focal point for sharing knowledge and expertise.
Now informed about the strength of self-build interest in their area - we'll invite Local Authorities to consider Zoning land for self-build within their own Local Plans.
Taskforce
Last year I set up a Taskforce led by Community Land Trust expert Dr Karl Dayson from Salford University.
His team from across the country are working to identify what would be needed to make these Land Trusts become commonplace:
It's clear that one of the biggest stumbling blocks can be receiving planning permission to start a new community-led development,
This is a problem in rural areas - in particular - where developments are typically small... can involve exception sites... and may lack interest from a distant town hall.
Local Housing Trusts
It was actually during a visit to the village of Essendon in my own Hertfordshire constituency that I had that "eureka" moment...
Locals couldn't understand why they were being prevented from knocking down a dozen asbestos ridden bungalows which had been decaying for decades.
Yet somehow the complex and bureaucratic planning system - and the remoteness of their cause - had prevented the regeneration of the village with what could be affordable homes for locals.
In the meantime the local school manages with a half-form entry as those who have grown up in the village are forced to leave.
Our progressive solution, Local Housing Trusts, will work along the same lines as Community Land Trusts but - for the first time - the community will be able to grant themselves planning permission to build!
As long as there's overwhelming support in the local community, local people will be able to come together to construct the homes needed in their area...
Affordable homes for young families...
Sheltered accommodation for the elderly...
Even shops and local businesses.
In short, Local Housing Trusts will build on the successes of Community Land Trusts like the one here in St Minver but they'll go much further.
Instead of a system that blocks a community's wishes and prevents them building for its future, Local Housing Trusts will give villages all over the country the right... the power to go out and do it for themselves.
They'll take back power from regional quangos, giving it back to local people...
They'll give local people the authority to grant themselves planning permission...
They'll let villagers control exactly where, how and for whom new homes are built...
Local Housing Trusts will kickstart a rural revolution, allowing villagers across the country to become the masters of their own destiny.
Tonight, I have set out the ways that a Conservative Government will give you the power to take control of your area... to build its future.
As individuals... as a group of enthusiastic families... or as a community - we will set you free to create a rural housing revolution.