Torfaen council set to achieve 4,700-home target by 2027, six years later than planned

A TARGET to build 4,700 homes over a 15-year period is expected to be achieved next year – which will be six years later than planned. 
A report for Torfaen Borough Council stated by April this year 4,476 new homes had been built which is 95 per cent of the target leaving it 224 homes short. 
The target was set in the authority’s local development plan which was intended to set out where new housing and employment sites should be located from the period 2006 to 2021, though it was only agreed by the council in December 2013. 
Despite the end date having passed the plan remains in use as the council’s planning policy, in conjunction with the Welsh Government’s Future Wales plan, while it is now developing a joint local development plan with Blaenau Gwent which will cover both boroughs. 
Councils are required to produce annual reports assessing the effectiveness of their plans and that states the remaining 224 homes are expected to be built by 2027 with construction already underway on large, approved sites including at South Sebastopol and the former County Hall site in Croesyceiliog. 
The report states: “The remaining 224 dwellings (5 per cent) are expected to be delivered within the next two years; which should be seen as a success of the plan when considering the effects of two major periods of economic recession, Brexit and the pandemic on housing delivery during the 15-year plan period.” 
It added with the housing target set to be achieved by 2027 most of the housing sites identified in the plan were deliverable “but over a longer time period than first envisaged.” 
It said a new requirement for “robust evidence of site deliverability and viability” is likely to avoid the situation being repeated in the new plan under development and predicted build figures give it confidence housing supply in Torfaen won’t run short before the new joint plan is brought into use. 
An average of 246 homes are predicted be built in Torfaen every year over the next five years. The current plan had a requirement 308 homes a year would be built on average while the actual number built fluctuated due to the economic downturns. 
The report also states during the 2025/26 financial year 192 homes were built in Torfaen with 151 being market homes and 41 were “affordable” homes. 
Over the same 15-year period the plan had a target to build 1,132 affordable homes and by end of March this year there had been 1,439 built. That was 127 per cent of the target and funded either by the Welsh Government social housing grant or legal obligations placed on developers of market housing. 
While the report describes the plan as having performed “very well in terms of enabling the provision of affordable housing” it acknowledges the total affordable housing need was and still is “much higher” than the target set in the plan. 
Sites still expected to deliver new homes in Torfaen included 134 proposed for the former Pontypool College and an estimated 850 at Mamhilad, though both still require planning permission. 
The report states the failure to achieve the housing target and sufficient land for employment, as well as a failure to ensure permission is in place for a landbank of aggregate material to be quarried, require a full review is necessary. All matters will be addressed through the joint plan being developed. 
The monitoring report was presented to the full council’s September meeting which agreed for it to be submitted to the Welsh Government.  ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

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By BBC LDRS ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​