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£800m plan for more high quality, low-carbon council homes
23/3/23
The scale
and ambition of Cardiff’s council housing development programme has been
outlined in the authority’s annual Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Business Plan.
Representing
one of the largest council housing build projects in Wales, the Council’s £800m
investment in more high-quality, low carbon, affordable homes remains crucial in
addressing the significant levels of housing need in the city, and is a key priority
in the 2023/24 Business Plan.
With a
target of at least 4,000 new homes, 2,800 of which will be council homes and
1,200 homes for sale, more than 1,000 new homes including 822 council homes,
have already been built. The overall programme currently includes 60 sites
which have the capacity to deliver at least 3,500 new homes in total, while work
is underway to identify more sites to achieve the 4,000 homes target.
As part
of the programme, more than £150m has been earmarked for 10 new older person
community living schemes, providing 600 new apartments to meet older people’s aspirations
and needs as they age.
Sustainability
and innovation are key drivers with developments such as the highly energy efficient,
modular-build homes at Crofts Street, Plasnewydd and the net zero ready Aspen Grove
site with its use of on-site renewable technologies in Rumney setting the standard
and gaining national recognition in prestigious award schemes.
Investment
in the new build programme forms part of around £111m that will be ploughed into
housing and communities in the city over the next 12 months, on improvements to
existing homes, disabled adaptations and regeneration schemes.
The move
towards carbon zero homes is a priority not only in new-build developments but
in existing stock, in line with the Council’s One Planet Cardiff Strategy. Almost
£16m will be spent on existing stock, including
£3.1m on energy efficiency schemes to make them more comfortable to live in and
more affordable to run for tenants.
Other
priorities include continuing to deliver cost of living support, preventing and
alleviating homelessness and modernising and improving services for tenants.
Cabinet
Member for Housing and Communities, Cllr Lynda Thorne, said: “Right now, our
services are experiencing pressures across the board – high demand for good
quality affordable housing with around 8,000 people on the city’s housing waiting
list, unprecedented numbers of people accessing our homelessness services and
of course, more residents struggling to deal with the rising costs of energy,
food and so on.
“I am
committed to addressing the challenges we face and it is more important than
ever that we are able to provide good quality, affordable housing to those who
need it most, and effective advice and support to our tenants.
“As
well as overcoming these challenges, there’s much to look forward to in the coming
year – with our development plan going from strength to strength, our first new
older persons housing scheme at Addison House in Rumney opening in the autumn,
the expansion of the Gasworks site to help tackle the housing crisis and the
first phase of the transformation of the Channel View estate, to name but a
few.”
As one
of only 11 stock-retaining local authorities in Wales, the council is required
to present an acceptable HRA Business Plan to Welsh Government each year.
At its meeting on Thursday, March 23, Cabinet
approved the HRA Business Plan 2023/24 for presentation to Welsh
Government. The full report can be viewed
here: https://cardiff.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=151&MId=7960&Ver=4
