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Here sits Alun Michael, minister for rural affairs and, as the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' lead minister for planning, regional and local government issues, the man responsible for convincing the ODPM to spare a thought for rural England when handing down housing policy from on high.

At this time of spiralling rural house prices, growing waiting lists and confusing policy changes, rural housing providers need all the help they can get. One-fifth of all homeless households are rural, and the average time spent on a housing waiting list is 426 days, compared to 370 in an urban location. Rural communities need more homes, and quickly. Although targets for new homes in the countryside have now increased, the number of completions has halved in the past five years (HT 6 June 2003, page 18).

Housing Today met Alun Michael to present readers' concerns about funding, planning policy and the amount of attention the government gives to rural affairs.

We came away none the wiser. Although the MP for Cardiff South and Penarth 鈥� whose varied brief also takes in passports for horses and rights of way 鈥� professes to be in regular contact with ministers at ODPM, he seems more at ease talking about transport and education initiatives than about housing. It must be a relief for him to be on relatively non-contentious ground 鈥� Michael is spearheading the government's attempt to ban hunting with dogs and takes a lot of flak from both sides of the debate for his attempts to steer a middle way.

When asked if it is fair to say that the government is more concerned with urban than rural affairs, Michael goes into a 10-minute spiel covering the creation of DEFRA, the 2000 rural white paper that set new targets for rural communities and a raft of non-housing-related initiatives.

But how much of his time does the minister spend on housing? "Well, I don't think you can quite divide it up that way," he says. "The lead on housing lies with the ODPM and, as with other issues like education and transport, the role of DEFRA is to work with the mainstream department to make sure there's a joined-up approach to meeting the needs of rural communities."

Questions from the floor
We move on to questions from Housing Today readers. Moira Constable, chief executive of the Rural Housing Trust, asks: does the minister realise that although the Housing Corporation's funding of rural housing has increased, this does not compensate for the loss of local authority social housing grant?

On this point, Michael stands shoulder-to-shoulder with his Whitehall colleagues. "Having looked at the case that housing ministers have seen which persuaded them to go down this road, I have to say that it's a compelling case," he says.

He acknowledges, though, that the transitional funding arrangements may have caused some short-term problems for rural housing providers.

"I'm certain that the difficulty is understood by ministers at the ODPM," he says. "And they have agreed with us to draw to the attention of the regional housing boards the need to make sure that that shortfall is made up." How they might go about doing that remains unclear, however, for Michael is "not in a position to know how a regional housing board does its work".

Justin Roxburgh, chief executive of Somerset-based Falcon Housing Association, would like to raise another bone of contention with the minister: the exception sites policy.

This is the power to develop affordable housing on land not earmarked for development in the local plan. There is a chance that this popular power could be lost when the new planning policy guidance note PPG3 comes into effect, to be replaced with the power to designate sites for affordable housing in the local plan (HT 6 February, page 22). "It would be a disaster if that policy was lost," says Roxburgh.

Will Michael be pushing the ODPM to keep the exception sites policy?

"It's something we have discussed," he says. "I've made it clear that I value the contribution that policy has made, so I'm happy that they are giving it sympathetic consideration at the present time."

Other readers want to know about rural housing enablers, people funded by the Countryside Agency to take charge of negotiations for affordable housing and smooth the turbulent path to development for councils, landowners and landlords.

This is a popular scheme, but funding is due to run out next year.

Michael too praises the enablers, but gets a mite tetchy when asked if there is any chance of a reprieve. "Well, I think that's the wrong way of approaching it, if you don't mind me saying so," he says.

"I mean, the whole point of the Countryside Agency was to start approaches that could be shown to work in terms of outcomes in rural communities, so if you like, anything that's been put up by the Countryside Agency is a bonus. The ODPM has the housing responsibility."

Definition man
However, there is one issue about which Michael seems genuinely enthusiastic. He has commissioned researchers at Birkbeck College, at the University of London, to come up with new and more sophisticated tools for defining rural communities.

Michael believes this could revolutionise the delivery of rural policy on transport, education, health, social care and even housing.

"I'm very keen on a change in how we define rural communities, so that we get away from the very straightforward urban/rural split as if all rural were the same, which it isn't," he says, leaning forward.

"I'm very hopeful that the work we're doing now is going to give us the evidence base for a much more sophisticated policy that meets real need in rural communities, rather than playing darts wearing a blindfold as the way of determining what targets you hit."

This comprehensive shift in the way rural communities are defined and the way policy is formed will be welcomed by rural housing providers. Many feel the current definition of a rural settlement as 3000 people or less is too restrictive, leaving many borderline settlements without the funding and attention they deserve.

It may not lead to more money but it should prompt the Housing Corporation to refine its targets and it will give villages and market towns solid evidence to use when lobbying for cash. Michael might not be making the cause of rural affordable housing his highest priority, but it looks like he could have an impact after all.