A HOUSING plan has been described as having performed “very well” in providing affordable homes.
Despite the assessment, it is still acknowledged that there is a shortage of affordable homes as the target set for building them was lower than the number actually required.
During the year from April 2024 to the end of March, 2025 there were 185 new homes built in Torfaen with 103 for sale on the open market and 82 classed as “affordable”.
The council’s local development plan, which sets out how land is used and where development should take place, had a target of building 4,700 homes over its 15-year period from 2006 to 2021, with 1,398 of them being affordable.
Affordable housing target
As a result of the 82 affordable homes built during the past year, the affordable housing target has been exceeded with 266 more built than had been aimed for, a performance of 123 per cent against target.
Total numbers of homes built by the end of March this year was 4,284, which is 91.2 per cent short of the 4,700 home target, and 2,886 of them were for sale on the open market.
Though the official 15-year plan period ran from 2006 to 2021, delays early in the period due to recession and the 2008 financial crash led to a slow start and though numbers recovered by 2018/19, as large sites became available, the pace slowed again due to the pandemic and then high interest rates.
That has left the borough 416 homes, or 8.8 per cent, short of the target figure but the latest monitoring report on the performance of the local development plan, prepared by council planner Robert Murray, those are expected to be built over the coming two years.
Building is expected at sites in Cwmbran and the former nylon factory site at Mamhilad.
He said: “Build rates should improve over the next few years, as building will continue at South Sebastopol, Llantarnam, the former Police College and the former County Hall sites; progress is expected on a planning application on part of the Mamhilad site; and an application is due shortly for the former Pontypool College site.”
This will also mean the borough has a clear housing supply and won’t run “significantly short” before a replacement local development plan is put in place, which isn’t expected to be until 2028 due to delays.
Social housing grant
The affordable homes have been built using Welsh Government social housing grant, which can fund the development of new homes for social rent usually through housing associations, and as a result of legal agreements, known as a Section 106, attached to planning permissions.
The Section 106 agreement can require a house builder to make a percentage of homes available as affordable which can include those for social rent or those sold at below market rate such as through shared equity schemes where a purchaser is only required to buy a percentage their home.
In the monitoring report Mr Murray, stated: “The plan has performed very well in terms of enabling the provision of affordable housing; with a further 82 affordable units being delivered in the last year.”
However he added: “It should be noted that the total affordable housing need, was and still is, much higher than the LDP target.”
Councillors have agreed to submit the monitoring report to the Welsh Government.