Minister Wowed by Crickhowell Affordable Housing Projects

11.31.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 24th Oct 2007

Kirsty Williams with Minister for Housing in Crickhowell

Welsh Liberal Democrat AM for Brecon and Radnorshire, Kirsty Williams secured a visit from the Minister for Housing to look at Affordable Housing projects in the Crickhowell area.

Kirsty Williams said: "I am delighted the Minister has taken the opportunity to see first hand these outstanding examples of local communities working successfully to move forward sustainable and affordable housing projects.

"Affordable housing is one of the most important issues facing our Communities in the south-east corner of Powys, particularly as it is one of the most expensive areas in the county and there is a real shortage of social housing for rent. This in turn has a huge impact upon the type of communities that are being created; as young people are forced to live further afield in more affordable areas. The consequences affect the survival of our local amenities and services, such as schools, along with making key workers for positions within the Health service etc hard to find.

"These local initiatives seek to make affordable housing available in a way that is sympathetic to the needs of these small communities of Crickhowell and Llanbedr."

Councillor John Morris said: "Crickhowell and the surrounding areas have experienced some of the highest house prices in Wales and local families are finding it impossible to rent or buy in the area. These two sites will go some way to addressing this problem but much more work needs to be done by the Welsh Assembly, Powys CC and the National park to meet the needs of local communities.

"I applaud the role taken by the two communities it is a bottom up approach that needs to be supported by the authorities. We now need to drive these developments forward and at the same time identify new sites and projects."