The rural housing shortage in Sussex is worse than ever, a conference on affordable homes heard.

With house prices soaring alongside the slowest rates of housebuilding since the Twenties, lack of affordable housing has reached a critical point.

A conference at Plumpton Village Hall yesterday heard the availability of suitable sites in rural Sussex which fit planning criteria and are affordable is a big problem.

In Sussex, it is possible to buy a two-bedroom Victorian terrace in Newhaven or a one-bedroom flat in Brighton on the open market for £100,000.

However, in the vast majority of the county's villages, it would be impossible to buy anything - yet housing surveys show high levels of need.

Brian Wilson, of the Countryside Agency, said affordable housing was one of the key issues facing the countryside alongside public community transport.

He said about 10,000 extra affordable homes were needed each year.

The conference, attended by the Duke of Richmond, heard rapid rises in house prices had impacted heavily in rural Sussex, where there is a scarcity of smaller first-time buyer properties.

Young people are forced to look towards towns for affordable housing.

Mr Wilson highlighted the widening gulf between earnings and house prices, with the average rural house costing £121,000 while an urban property costs £118,000.

However, wages were low in many rural areas, leaving housebuying beyond the means of many.

Mr Wilson said: "The public sector cannot be relied on to provide the solution but we need to encourage landowners and the private sector to play a bigger role."

Kelvin MacDonald, director of policy and research at Rtpi@Room, said 20 per cent more housebuilding was needed to meet Government targets.

But public expenditure on housing was at its lowest since the Eighties, something which he said needed addressing.

Mr MacDonald said: "Unless we have the investment in housing at a national level, we are not going to achieve what we want."