NEW rules designed to ease Andover’s chronic shortage of social housing could see old people living on their own forced to leave their large family homes.

Regulations stemming from the Government’s localism agenda mean that from January many new tenants will have far less security than people currently housed by the council.

The new rules coming in mean that fresh five-year tenancies will not be renewed where there has been anti social behaviour, where household income is over £60,000, where a significant adaptation to the home is no longer required or, most controversially, where under-occupation of a property exists by at least two bedrooms.

This could see people being forced to leave what was their family home, including the newly bereaved, to free up the larger properties for families.

The new regulations would also affect those whose children leave home.

Read more in today's paper.