Flintshire Council to deliver over 700 affordable and social homes despite new development delays

Flintshire Council, after acknowledging delays in its housing strategy, has said it is on course to deliver over 700 affordable and social homes over the next three years.

The Community and Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee will meet next Thursday to discuss Flintshire Council’s five-year housing blueprint.

This plan sets out the council’s ambition to bolster affordable housing and enhance support to Flintshire residents.

The strategy is anchored in three core goals. Foremost, it tackles the deficit of affordable homes, ensuring they resonate with the community’s needs and are strategically located.

Additionally, it underscores the significance of assisting vulnerable members of the community in obtaining and retaining their homes, facilitated by the Housing Support Grant.

This aid is not confined to addressing homelessness but encompasses the diverse necessities of various vulnerable demographics.

On another note, the strategy aspires to augment housing quality and adopt sustainable practices, echoing Wales’ Climate Change Strategy.

The council has acknowledged delays in meeting its housing goals across the county, citing the pandemic, the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, rising interest rates, and logistical issues as key obstacles.

Nonetheless, Flintshire Council remains on course to deliver 730 new affordable and social homes over the next three years, dependent on consultation and planning consent.

Over this three-year period, Flintshire will be allocated around £40 million from Welsh Government to help it achieve its social housing priorities.

Chief officer for Housing and Communities, Vicky Clark, said: “As had been forecast in last year’s report, we continue to see a significant hiatus in development of new housing across the county.”

“This stems from the impact of the pandemic, the cost-of-living-crisis, rising interest rates together with wage and material inflation and delays in material availability.”

“Despite the delays, there has been progress and the council has continued to successfully adapt to new ways of working.

“The number of homes completed will increase in future years as the Planned Development Programme (PDP), which has now been approved by Welsh Government, gears up to deliver around 730 new homes.”

Members will also review the progress report and note which priorities the council has achieved and which ones require further work.

The report reveals 44 new social rent properties were completed in 2022/23 against the target of 86, and 5 out of an anticipated 10 units to meet specialist provision were completed.

However, there was a 20% increase in the number of one-bedroom social rented properties and the council also brought 58 empty properties back into use.

As part of the work to improve the quality and sustainability of people’s homes, improvements are being made to fuel poor homes, including tariff switching advice and the installation of fuel-efficient heating systems. More than 1,000 households have received support.

Councillor Sean Bibby, Cabinet Member for Housing and Regeneration, said: “Despite the significant challenges over the last couple of years, it is positive to see that progress is being made.”

“We have a long way to go but I am confident that we will achieve our goal of delivering the right housing to our residents in a sustainable way.”