Plans pave way for new city homes

CARDIFF Council has approved plans for a housing partnership which could pave the way for more than 1,000 new homes in the city.

The council is already involved in a housing partnership programme with Wates Living called Cardiff Living.

It is hoped that by setting up a new housing partnership programme, more homes can be built more quickly.

There are currently more than 8,000 people on Cardiff Council’s housing waiting list and 1,400 homeless families and individuals in temporary accommodation.

The approval of the new housing partnership programme by the council’s cabinet last Thursday could pave the way for 1,700 new homes to be built.

Cardiff Council officer Dave Jaques explained that by having a housing partnership, the council would be able to reduce the amount of time it takes for construction to start after planning approval is given.

He said having a housing partnership in place removes the need for a lengthy tendering proces, something which can take six to nine months.

Mr Jaques added: “As soon as we have our planning consent in place, our designs have been evolved with the contractor and that contractor is going to build the scheme.

“As soon as we have a planning decision, we are already working on construction packs.”

The current Cardiff Living programme covers 26 sites spread over nine years and will deliver 1,500 new homes, of which 800 are council homes for social rent and 700 for market sale.

As part of the decision over the second partnership, members also approved a list of potential development sites. But this list was restricted in the confidential section of the report.

During a community and adult services scrutiny committee meeting on Monday which looked at the report, concerns were raised over the potential impact the current financial situation might have on the delivery of housing.

The council’s cabinet member for housing and communities, Lynda Thorne, said the current pressures were already having an effect on house building.

She said the issue was “bound to have an impact”, adding that developers were struggling with soaring costs, “particularly small developers that we might want on the smaller sites.

She added: “We lost a developer on two sites just recently which means we have to try and see if we can find somebody to take over those contracts, or otherwise there will be a longer delay because they will likely have to go into this partnership. I think clearly that shows why it is more important than ever to go into a larger partnership.”

Following the conclusion of the tender process and evaluation of bids received for the second housing partnership, a decision will be brought back to cabinet to give approval to appoint the preferred bidder.