114,000 new homes on cards in Wales scheme
TOWNS and cities across Wales are set to grow rapidly under the Welsh Government’s blueprint for the development of the nation.
Building more affordable homes is at the heart of the National Development Framework for Wales, which is being put out for consultation today.
The framework aims to show where new homes, jobs, service and transport infrastructure investment should be focused over the next 20 years.
Civil servants estimate that 114,000 new homes are needed in Wales by 2038 and that nearly half (47%) should be affordable homes – either social housing or housing that is rented or sold at below market price through government support.
The plan talks of “building affordable homes at scale and pace” with an ambition to build, every year for the next five years, 3,900 affordable homes and 4,400 homes to be sold at market prices every year.
Arguing for focusing this development on existing urban areas, the framework proposes “co-locating homes, jobs and services... on cities and large towns to enhance their performance”.
It admits that continuing to grow our existing towns and cities “will be challenging” but it argues that this is preferable to ripping up undeveloped greenfield areas of Wales to build new towns.
It says: “An urban growth focus enables more people to walk and cycle for everyday journeys and, with good urban design, can create positive impacts on public health, air quality and wellbeing.”
The plan identifies three main urban clusters in Wales: Cardiff, Newport and the Valleys; Swansea Bay and Llanelli; and Wrexham and Deeside.
Aside from these areas, the plan highlights regional centres it says should retain their commercial roles like Carmarthen, the Pembrokeshire Haven towns, Aberystwyth, Llandrindod Wells, Newtown, Caernarfon, Bangor and the coastal towns from Llandudno to Prestatyn.
It says: “By focusing large-scale growth on the urban areas, development pressures can be channelled away from the countryside and productive agricultural land can be protected.”