PRINCE Charles dropped in on families in Bletchingdon after helping them to move to affordable accommodation.

Villagers have been given the opportunity to live in 12 homes in Springwell Close, on land provided by the Prince's estate, the Duchy of Cornwall, which linked up with the parish council and Oxford Citizens Housing Association so the scheme could go ahead.

It is understood the Duchy has leased the land to the housing association at a peppercorn rent so that the homes, a mixture of flats and houses, could be built. Justin Pitts, his partner Natasha Pritchard and three children Emily, nine, Thomas, eight and Megan, seven, are renting a three-bedroom home.

Mr Pitts, 35, who works at Ardley landfill site, said: "We moved to the village nine years ago, but we were living in a two-bedroom house.

"We never expected Prince Charles to be helping us move into an affordable home and we are very grateful.

"The homes are very well designed - we have got our own wood burner - and I think Prince Charles had quite a lot of input into the design."

Mr Pitts is paying about £100 a week rent to the housing association and would expect to pay more than £1,000-a-month for a similar rented property on the open market.

Felicity Pusey, 28, who lives in a rented three-bedroom cottage with her husband Jeremy and two children, Molly, five, and Max, two, said: "I was brought up in this village, so it's fantastic to be living in a house like this that is affordable."

Eight of the units, which all have 'very good' eco homes ratings, are for rent. Four are intended to be sold on a shared ownership basis.

The Prince of Wales's Affordable Rural Housing Initiative was launched in 2003, with the aim of encouraging the private sector to deliver affordable rural housing.

After meeting residents and inspecting the Pitts' family home, the Prince said: "It is a particular pleasure to meet the residents of the new houses, and I pray I have not caused too much disruption to the normal routine.

"Over the past four years, the initiative has focused on raising awareness among companies to provide well-designed affordable housing.

"The provision of land is central to the whole process. Obviously a great deal more land is needed, and I felt that at least we could try with the Duchy of Cornwall to contribute in any way we could.

"We are trying to engage the wider business community in the search for the right sort of land and the water companies have become involved in identifying land for rural affordable housing."

The terrace of cottages consists of four one-bedroom flats, four two-bedroom houses, two three-bedroom houses and two four-bedroom houses.

Chris Lane, chairman of the parish council, said: "We don't have a problem with people buying up second homes here, but we wanted to do as much as we could to make homes affordable for local people and Prince Charles has done us a huge favour.

"The excellent design emulates the old almshouses."

Jonathan Higgs, chief executive of Oxford Citizens Housing Association, said: "There has been a strong emphasis on high-quality design. We have been able to take this project forward with the help of the Housing Corporation, which provided a £600,000 grant."

Prince Charles was also greeted by pupils aged seven to nine, from Bletchingdon Primary School, who showed him health and safety posters they painted when the houses were being built.

Teacher Alison Stewart said: "Pupil numbers at the school have gone up since families have moved into the homes."

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

WITH the average house in Oxford now costing £339,000, and the city experiencing the fourth highest increase in house prices in the UK last year, for many people homes are no longer affordable.

And the same is now true in the rest of the county. Despite evidence suggesting property prices are now falling, they will have to drop a long way before many people can afford their own home in Oxfordshire.

Six years ago, Oxford City Council decided to tackle the problem by insisting every new development contained 50 per cent social housing. Recently it updated the rule to insist that they also contained a mix of properties - so they must now also include larger family accommodation of four bedrooms or more.

This has caused a major problem for builders, because they claim that buying the land - and then building on it - is costing more than the cash they recoup from the sale of the properties.

As a result, building firm WE Black is postponing plans to put up 85 new homes in Railway Lane, Littlemore, and others could follow suit.