Shropshire Star

There could be 425 new Council homes by 2026

By 2026, Powys County Council (PCC) could have built or acquired an extra 175 homes on top of the 250 they are hoping to develop.

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Nina Davies Powys County Council - Head Of Housing And Community Development

At a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, March 2, Head of Housing, Nina Davies, explained that provision for extra homes had been included in the 2021/22 Housing Revenue Accout (HRA) 30 year business plan.

Head of Housing, Nina Davies, said: “Provision has been made to fund a potential increase to 425 homes both newly built and acquired by 2026.”

Mrs Davies said that from 2019 to 2021, the council had bought 20 homes on the open market, and the majority had been former council houses.

But, she warned in her report that the council might need to look at “alternative financial models” to subsidise the continued development of homes.

This is if land and construction cost continue to increase, and grant funding drops off.

Council leader, Cllr Rosemarie Harris, said: “I’m very pleased that we have the possibility of over 400 new homes.

“We set that target of 250 by 2025.

“We’re only in 2021 I’m sure we can go past that target.”

Portfolio holder for Economic Development, Planning and Housing, Cllr Iain McIntosh said: “Its an exciting time with all the house building going on and and we’re making good inroads towards the target.”

Finance portfolio holder Councillor Aled Davies, said that investing in building projects is: “really important, helping us build back better in a green and sustainable way.”

The report was approved unanimously.

The county council is one of 11 our of 22 local authorities in Wales that still look after it’s own housing stock.

Powys has 5,389 council houses, and as of January there are 3,326 people on a waiting list for one.

Each year, local authorities that look after their housing stock are required to submit their HRA business plan for the HRA to the Welsh Government, and this includes a 30 year financial model

The HRA is a self funding budget, which is allowed to receive grant funding that pays for the maintenance costs of council’s housing stock.

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