The provision of high quality affordable housing must be a priority for all the political parties in the run-up to the next general election, according to Westlea housing chief David Ashmore.

Mr Ashmore, chief executive of North Wiltshire's leading housing association, was speaking in support of A Manifesto for Neighbourhoods, a new publication from the National Housing Federation that sets out what the next government should do to provide more affordable housing.

"At Westlea we are continuing to work with our partners to find ways of providing more new affordable housing for local people and developing the neighbourhoods where we already have homes but we face many of the same problems as other housing associations in the south west," he said.

The National Housing Federation, which represents 200 not-for-profit housing associations across the South West, is calling for the political parties to make affordable housing a national priority.

Sharon Hedges, acting head of the South region of the National Housing Federation, said: "Delivering more affordable homes in sustainable communities has got to become a political priority. Thriving local communities, social justice, low unemployment, and good educational chances all depend on this."

Housing associations are calling on the political parties to commit to a range of policies, including improving land supply for affordable housing, including in rural areas, ensuring that if private developers receive government funds for housing they will guarantee the same high standards that housing associations are required to meet, and developing planning policies and design codes that produce genuinely mixed developments.