A: Llangattock is a designated Limited Growth Settlement, and in the recent Place Plan Consultation, most people said they wanted it to stay that way. It is also a question in the latest survey going on now.

A: New housing development could be allowed if it was for what is known as ‘affordable housing’.  This sort of limited development would be known as an ‘exception’. The current planning policy only allows the development of local needs affordable housing, controlled by a planning condition. The aim is to support community sustainability.

A: Affordable housing is defined as homes which people can afford to buy or rent when local incomes and house prices are taken into account.

Llangattock is one of the most expensive places to live in Powys and Wales outside Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan (ONS figures).  The multiple of income required to buy a house here has been calculated as x11.4, compared to x9 in the rest of the UK. Small properties for long-term rental are in short supply and when they do come on the market, they are priced well above the Local Housing Allowance available to support people on low incomes.

A: According to the Powys Common Housing Register for Social Housing, in March 2024 there were 53 households with a local connection to Llangattock which are in housing need (up from 38 last year). Of these, nine households in housing need have Llangattock as their preferred place to live and are ready to move now if a home became available.

A: Social housing for rent is for people who have low incomes and cannot afford market rents or to buy a house at market prices. This is because they could have lost their jobs, fallen ill, become unwell, got into financial difficulties, and got behind with private rental payments, or any number of reasons. Intermediate, otherwise known as rent-to-buy or shared equity housing, is for people with incomes of £16,000 - £60,000. 

A: Powys County Council and Housing Associations in Powys give priority to households with a local connection who:

• Are currently living or working in a community council area (in this case Llangattock), have lived here for three of the past five years or need to provide care to someone who is living here.
• Have a close family connection (mother, father, or children) who have been living in the area for most of the past five years and with whom they have a meaningful relationship.
• Have regular steady work in the area.

If there are no people with local connections on the waiting list, offers will be made to people from adjoining communities and outwards until the spaces are filled. It would be wasteful to leave homes empty when there are people in need.

A: Most affordable housing is funded by Welsh Government and provided by housing associations, like Melin Homes or Monmouthshire Housing Association, and Powys County Council. They don’t make profits for shareholders, instead they invest all their income into delivering their social purpose. Because these receive government funding, they can build and let out properties more cheaply than the open market.

A: There are different types:

• Social rented at below open market rents.
• Intermediate housing, where tenants buy some of the house and rent the rest. This way, they get a foot on the housing market as their ‘share’ grows in value.

A: Housing Associations can put a local lettings policy in place and Llangattock Community Council would insist on this. In practice, there are so many people with local connections to Llangattock looking for homes here that it is unlikely that they would be let to anyone unconnected to our community. In the unlikely event that no-one with a Llangattock connection came forward, the vacancies would almost certainly be filled by people from neighbouring communities.

A: Llangattock currently has:

• 6x 1-bed bungalows
• 21x 2-bed bungalows
• 4x 1-bed flats (at The Oaks)
• 5x 2-bed houses
• 8x 3-bed houses
• 1x 4-bed house.

That makes a total of 45 affordable properties out of 433 households (2021 Census does not include The Oaks).  The current occupiers of these homes are not included in the housing register.

A:  Powys County Council projects that the Crickhowell Local Housing Market Assessment (LHMA) area needs to provide 26 social rented and 21 intermediate housing units by 2037*

This is in addition to 100 houses needed for sale or market rent, according to the study.  Under the current Limited Growth Settlement restrictions, no housing for sale would be allowed in Llangattock.

* figure rounded to 48 in their tables. Study period from 2022 to 2037.

The Powys data does not go any lower than the Crickhowell locality, but includes Llangattock as well as Bwlch, Cwmdu, Glangwryney, Llangorse, Llangynidr, Llangenny, Llanbedr and Cwmdu.

A: Llangattock (population 946) is the third biggest community in the Crickhowell locality.  It is roughly ½ the size of Crickhowell (population 2,109) and about the same size as Llangyndir (1,034). So, on that basis, Llangattock needs to provide around one-quarter of the 48 affordable units or 12 homes.

However, while dividing up the figure in this way is easy to understand, it does not factor for local connections to Llangattock and the actual number of people in housing need, which is much higher.

As previously stated, with no further housing for market allowed, market prices will likely remain high, making affordability a continuing issue for local people.

A: They should do as they were finished in 2023, after the start of the study period.  However, they are now occupied and do not count towards the 9 households with Llangattock connections who are currently in housing need and ready to move.

A: This could not happen. Affordable housing must stay affordable in perpetuity, forever.

The only exception to this would be if there was a ‘ladder’ scheme in place which allowed the tenant to buy more and more of the property with the profits being made available for more affordable housing.  The Place Plan consultation has demonstrated that people are opposed to this idea.

A: It is possible that very small amounts of housing for sale could be allowed alongside affordable housing if it were necessary to make the development viable e.g. to persuade a landowner to give up the land.  It may also be possible to persuade the planning authority to allow housing for other social purposes e.g. for people to downsize into so that their homes could be released for local families to move into.  It is highly likely that the planning authority would impose both a lower age limit and local residency restrictions in these circumstances to ensure both homes were only available to local families.

If a planning application is made, The Planning Act (Wales) Act 2015 requires developers to conduct a pre-planning consultation if:

• The application is for 10 or more houses.
• Outline planning for 0.5 hectares or more and where the number of houses is not stated.
• Buildings where the floor space is 1,000 sq. m or more.
• Development of a site for any purpose of 1 hectare or more.

LCC should be actively involved in these consultations to help determine location, scale, and composition.

A: It is possible through what is known as a S106 agreement, but the Welsh Government will only fund housing, so a big additional requirement may make a development non-viable. The smaller the development, the less additional community benefit is possible.

A: Because young people and people on lower incomes need places to live and are priced out of the market as it is.  Llangattock’s population is ageing rapidly and the community needs more young families if it is to remain sustainable.