Over the course of a year, Llangattock Community Council consulted its residents and relevant stakeholders and produced a Community Plan detailing what people like, what they don't like and how they want their community to develop.  It will help decide how Llangattock grows in everything from housing to transport, retail and the environment and will tell the 'powers that be' what we care about in Llangattock.  Click here to read it.

LCC is working with Bannau Brycheiniog to see how the Community Plan can be given force in what is known as Statutory Planning Guidance (SPG).  Together with the Community Plan, this will form the Place Plan for Llangattock.

You can read the community plan by visiting this link.

The graph below shows the issues raised during the consultation.

The Place Plan can't provide solutions for problems like the cost of living crisis but, between us, we can find ways to help.

Over 5 months, Llangattock Community Council conducted a survey and got 153 responses to the questions.  It also attended 13 small area meetings, coffee mornings and events organised by local people at which it gathered the views of 200.  Crickhowell High School sent out a survey to Llangattock pupils.  We also answered dozens of messages, emails and letters from individuals.

The chart above shows the most talked-about issues.

Some responses can be read in this slide show, starting with the question "What works well for your community?", then "What doesn't work so well?", and lastly, "What can be done to improve it?".  Click the arrow at the bottom to move through.

LCC wrote to Powys County Council, the Canal and River Trust, Dyfed Powys Police, and the Police and Crimes Commissioner, Powys Teaching Health Board and other bodies about the immediate concerns raised in the consultation. We also think we need to set up projects with residents to work through the big issues shown below. Please email us on Llangattockplaceplan@gmail.com if you would like to be involved in any of these projects.

The consultation will take about a year, after which we will place concerns and solutions raised:

• • • • In the 15-year Place Plan
      • In our 5-Year Plan
      • Or in a Register of Residents' Concerns, which we can use to lobby service providers for improvements.

Llangattock resident, Tom White, has been pulling together some statistics about our community, which the data shows, has an ageing more economically inactive population, with fewer no-vehicle  and more multi-vehicle households than 10 years ago.  Scroll on the bar on the right to read his report.

The Environment did not feature highly on areas of concern for people, despite the challenges we face with climate change. However, areas which could have a direct positive impact did.  The way we travel, for instance, places big pressures on our community, and if we are to protect our way of life, we need to do things differently.

Housing is another area where we may need to act.

A group of data researchers living locally found that the population of Llangattock is ageing rapidly. The graphs on the left show how the average age increased by six years, to 56 years old, between 2011 and 2021. 35% of residents are over 65 and 73% of Llangattock residents live alone or as a couple with no children, almost double the UK average.

Most live in three or four-bedroomed households because there are very few one or two-bedroomed households to downsize into. Llangattock has some of the highest property prices in Powys.  A young family trying to buy an average house would have to borrow 11.4 times their salary to live here, more than average across the UK.  There are 18 people with local connections on the housing waiting list.

We have talked to Bannau Brycheiniog National Park and think we stand a good chance of getting planning permission for a small development somewhere on the edge of the settlement, consisting of 100% affordable homes – for low-cost renting or shared ownership with a housing association. They might also support small energy-efficient homes for sale to local downsizers if their use is restricted.

We also discovered that almost half the homes in the old part of Llangattock are empty, second homes or holiday lets. Should this growing trend be allowed to continue to grow? Email ‘Housing’ to llangatttockplaceplan@gmail.com If you want to help decide about homes for local people.

Lots of people want a shop. Young people were particularly keen on a warm place to meet and ‘hang-out’. Could this community facility be built as part of an affordable housing development? It would need lots of volunteers.

If you want to help make this happen, email ‘Shop’ to llangattockplaceplan@gmail.com

Lots of people are angry about parking, blaming visitors and others. The red lines on the map show where the hotspots are. But the data above shows Llangattock has more cars per household than the average in Wales. So, what’s the answer? Does the community ask PCC to apply a residents’ parking scheme that would stop others from parking in Llangattock but also limit the number of cars per household? It’s the only one they offer. Is it a drop-off point to ease the pressure of the school run? Is it car parks for visitors away from the village centre? If you want to talk about possible solutions email ‘parking’ to llangattockplaceplan@gmail.com

All these issues overlap and one will impact the other. We need to work together if we are to find solutions which will work for the whole community and plan a better future for Llangattock.