THE chief executive of a housing society has warned that many more homes are desperately needed in west Wiltshire to tackle an escalating crisis.

A report published this week by the National Housing Federation revealed waiting lists for affordable homes in the district have risen by 72.4 per cent over the last five years.

The report warns the rise in house prices means more people are unable to get onto the property ladder.

In west Wiltshire the average cost of a house is £193,716 - about 10 times the average income.

Many people are resorting to affordable homes through housing associations but demand is vastly outstripping supply.

Barry Hughes, chief executive of West Wiltshire Housing Society, said the problem had created a "grey market" of people who cannot afford to buy houses but have low priority needs on the housing register, so they are forced to rent privately or live with friends and relatives.

"We are looking to find solutions for these people like shared ownership," he said.

"We plan to develop schemes where people can take a share of the equity and as their situation changes they own more and more of their home."

But for this to work, more houses are needed and Mr Hughes admitted the length of time it takes to go through the process of getting permission to build new houses is frustrating.

The society currently has a number of applications going through the system, including plans for 49 houses in Prospect Place, Trowbridge, and to demolish garage sites and build houses.

Some of these plans have been delayed or abandoned after objections by local residents.

Mr Hughes said: "The longer it takes to go through the more frustrating it is. We believe a house for a family is more important than a garage.

"We recognise there may be parking issues and we will always try to accommodate this."

According to the report, there were 4,185 households on West Wiltshire District Council's housing register last year and this has risen to almost 5,000 in 2007.

The council, which is responsible for providing housing, is behind a PFI scheme to provide 400 affordable homes. This was launched two years ago and a list of proposed sites for development is due to be finalised in October but the new houses are not likely to be built until 2010.

Council spokesman Louise Knox said: "Housing is a massive issue for us. In our most recent housing needs survey the figures have gone through the roof. Back in 2001 there was a need to build 100 new homes a year, now it is up to 800."

She said the council has various ways of finding new housing including policies which make developers planning large-scale developments provide a proportion of affordable homes, land where housing could be built or money towards further development of affordable homes.

Derek Cash, head of the south region for the National Federation said more public and political support is needed to speed up the process of building new homes.

"Local communities should also support planning applications for affordable new housing schemes in their locality. This is the only way we are going to create sufficient housing to tackle the huge shortage," he said.