Mr Taylor says affordable homes should be kept for local people

Carrick, in Mr Taylor's constituency, was named last week as the least affordable rural area in the country by the Halifax building society.

The report pointed to escalating house prices but low local wages.

Mr Brown has asked Mr Taylor, a former party chairman, to look into how land is used and whether planning can help deliver cheaper homes.

'Ghost town' threat

From his Cornwall constituency of Truro and St Austell, Mr Taylor is well placed to comment on the problems faced by the rural poor.

The survey found the average house price in Carrick, one of six Cornwall districts, was �269,241, more than 10 times the average local salary.

Mr Taylor told BBC News that new developments should include homes that would stay for use in the local community.

"If you don't give young people the opportunity to get on the housing ladder, effectively you force them to move away.

"If you do that the next generation that will be bringing up the enterprise and incomes aren't there.

"Local buses and shops don't get used so you see a decline in the community and villages become like a ghost town."

He added: "Despite the fact that the Cornwall economy is coming up, incomes aren't coming up, so I have also been asked to look at whether things can be done with planning system to look at creating jobs in these rural communities."