03/27/2024

Wales News Online

Local & National News for Wales

Over 900 new council homes to be built in Carmarthenshire

OVER 900 new council homes are to be built in Carmarthenshire over the next five years in a £150million investment by Carmarthenshire County Council.

Plans by the council’s housing team received unanimous cross-party support from members at a full council meeting this week.

The investment will see the council’s housing stock returned to levels last seen in the 1990s and will help address the continued demand for social housing in the county.

Carmarthenshire County Council is one of half the Welsh local authorities to retain its housing stock, with many off-loading to housing associations over the last 20 years.

The council also became the first in Wales to suspend the Right to Buy, a decision made in 2015 to halt the decline in social housing.

The new homes will be built in areas of most need – many of those in rural areas which has lacked available social housing for many years.

£53million is already in place to build the first 300 homes before 2022, and work is underway on two development sites – Dylan in Bryn, Llanelli, and Garreglwyd in Pembrey, where a mix of family homes and bungalows are under construction.

Carmarthenshire is one of only a few local authorities in Wales with such wide-scale plans for investment in social housing – the biggest since the 1970s.

This is in addition to the council’s previous commitment to deliver 1,000 affordable homes to rent and buy across the county by 2021 – a commitment it is already over half-way to fulfilling with over 700 affordable homes built, bought from the open market, or brought back in to use.

Speaking at Council, Cllr Linda Evans, Executive Board Member for Housing, said: “This programme is exciting and challenging. We must concentrate on the need and deliver suitable homes – homes for general need and homes for people with physical needs. We will be building lifetime homes that are easy to adapt so that people can stay in that property.”

Cllr Darren Price added: “We are very much looking forward to these houses coming. We are all aware of the waiting lists and it’s good to see that the council is making positive steps.”

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