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Welsh housing minister ‘concerned’ by developers dodging affordable housing

Wales’ housing minister has expressed “concern” that developers are dodging affordable housing requirements.

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Rebecca Evans, housing and regeneration minister for the Welsh Government (picture: SWNS)
Rebecca Evans, housing and regeneration minister for the Welsh Government (picture: SWNS)
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Welsh housing minister “concerned” by developers dodging affordable housing #ukhousing

Appearing at Community Housing Cymru’s (CHC) annual conference in Cardiff today, Rebecca Evans suggested house builders are delivering schemes marginally smaller than the thresholds which would require them to deliver great proportions of affordable housing according to Welsh planning rules.

In response to a question from the audience, Ms Evans said: “At the moment I am concerned by what I’ve heard in the sense that we have these tiers, if you like, of how many affordable homes have to be provided per block of houses which are built by the volume house builders and often say the cut-off is at 50, then you get 49 houses, so you get fewer affordable houses as a result of that.


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“I think that’s certainly something that needs to be explored and we have a new piece of work being done by the minister lead on planning, Lesley Griffiths. She’s undertaking a wide-ranging review of housing and planning.

“I’ve no doubt this particular issue will be there, in terms of maximising the amount of affordable housing which is built and trying develop in a more sustainable way in future both in terms of how we build and where we build.”

Affordable housebuilding in Wales fell 9% last year, while the Welsh Government has a target to deliver 20,000 affordable homes in the 2016/2021 Welsh Assembly term.

Delivering her speech to the conference today, Ms Evans said the drop showed that “we cannot afford to be complacent”.

However, she insisted she is “satisfied that this drop in delivery was anticipated, and that a significant increase in the delivery of affordable homes is expected in the next two years”.

The Welsh Government commissioned an independent review of affordable housing supply, due to publish its findings in April next year.

Ms Evans also told the sector that carbon reduction “is a real priority for the Welsh Government” and that ministers “are starting to consider” how investment in housing can be targeted towards low and zero-carbon homes.

Opening today’s conference, Stuart Ropke, chief executive of CHC, said he has “absolutely no doubt” that the 20,000 affordable homes target will be achieved.

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