With Pembrokeshire County Council beginning the public consultation phase of the Brynhir housing development in Tenby, town councillors recently discussed matters relating to the scheme further.

The proposed 144 home development is in response to an identified need for council housing in Tenby and reflects the demand for housing for local people seeking to move or return to the area.

Tenby town council have reaffirmed in recent months, that they are in favour of this development as long as it delivers the social housing Tenby desperately needs.

Town councillors have stated that how these properties are allocated is vitally important, and wanted to reiterate when they met with representatives from PCC for an ‘engagement meeting’ last month, that these must be ‘local houses for local people’.

Looking at outline plans, councillors wanted to explore in more detail the design to make sure it looks like Tenby and not just another development anywhere in the county. Clr. Laurence Blackhall said that he wanted to ensure the development has some ‘unique character’ to it. In addition to pastel colours, there was a need to look at the public open spaces and how to make a nice space with proper links into Slippery Back and proper paths, to create a friendly area, not just for residents but for those who already enjoy this space.

Clr. Mike Evans that as this was a county council Housing Revenue Account site, similar to Hafalnod with Ateb, there was no obligation on the Town Council to maintain it, and it would be like all other council sites under the HRA and maintained by monies paid in rent like Knowling Mead for example.

He said that the Local Connections policy was key and should cover no more than a two to three mile radius. The development would feature a mix of housing, generally comprising 30 per cent one-bedroom; 30 per cent two-bedroom; 30 per cent three-bedroom; and the rest a mix of for and five bedroom.

The design and layout would be down to professionals appointed by PCC. Full planning permission has yet to be granted and the design will be governed by Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority rules.

Clr. Evans believed PCC were looking at a modular design, which is more environmentally friendly to build.

He would like to see PCC justify the 32 open market houses but did feel it was beneficial to the demographic of site particularly if they were mixed in with the rest of the houses.

He said it would become apparent, when looking at the proposed access off A470 alongside Sperricombe Lane that there was other possible land and a long-term vision for that field to become a Community Land Trust (CTL) field.

Any local letting policy on a CLT site means that it will forever will be under the local letting policy.

“These houses will not be sold,” stressed Clr. Evans. “These are council rentals for life.” He went onto say that the new build council houses would be designed to accommodate lifts, with downstairs bathrooms and to meet all carbon neutral criteria to future proof them.

“This does makes them more expensive to build which was why it was better to include some mix of open market houses to underpin the building of expensive council houses,” he continued.

“Although the open market dwellings would help make the project viable, any developer will have to work within PCNPA’s policy so we will not see tall flats being built.”

Clr. Evans said that the Welsh Government housing minister had recently criticised a development of around 70 dwellings in St David’s. While there was a mix of social and open market houses, which was excellent for the City, the social houses had been shoehorned into a corner and this should not be the case at Brynhir.

Clr. Mrs. Christine Brown agreed that the new builds should be mixed up with the other properties, stating that in the old days, council houses were considered as occupied by a ‘lower-class of person’ but there was no such thing anymore.

“This may development maybe potentially four years away but the reason for building and making sure that this is local for local people is because people have had to move away. This is about getting Tenby people back in Tenby,” she remarked.

Clr. Jim Cornwell told his colleagues that not a day went past when he didn’t hear of people being evicted by landlords looking to sell the property. “This is such a problem particularly for young people. It is essential that this development happens for the town due to the collapse of the housing rental market,” he stated, adding that a good bus route was also really important however, as not everyone has a car.

Clr. Evans said that local people are finding that they have to move 10 to 15 miles away, not just because of affordability but because of actually finding somewhere to rent, and that people were being driven out of their communities for the ‘want of somewhere to live’.

Clr. Blackhall agreed that this was sad to see, but in terms of well documented objections from some to the scheme, the reality is that the majority of people he spoke to were supportive of this development going ahead.

On meeting with PCC representatives regarding the Brynhir scheme, the local authority’s structural engineer Chris Pratt took the meeting through a slideshow explaining the current position, the extent of the site and proposed ecological corridors, access proposals, protection of the established Rights of Way and the future timescale for delivery. There were no houses shown on the plans or layouts as this was being developed by the design team.

In addition to 104 social houses, PCC’s housing strategy manager Andrew Davies-Wrigley explained that there would be six shared ownership/self-build and 32 open market properties.

The self-build would follow the Welsh Government scheme for self-build on local authority owned land. People would not be able to just come along and build by ‘grand design’, it has to be within house types agreed for the site.

People will have the option of two or three-bed properties, with the internals and finishings worked out. The main contractors would be involved in the self-build element. It was not under the established definition of self-build as it must fit in with the framework of the site but it makes it more affordable.

Any proposed mixes will form part of discussions going forward.

The town council reiterated to PCC officers that the goal was to achieve a community; and a place to live where people feel ‘comfortable, safe and secure’.

The Mayor, Clr. Mrs. Sam Skyrme-Blackhall said that this was a very opportune meeting, as the town council had discussed several times recently, the growing housing crisis in Tenby.

She said that landlords looking to increase their investment opportunities through AirBnB and holiday lets were now resulting in local people being evicted from their homes. The need for housing was high but opportunities in the social and private rental market were low.

“This lack of available housing has a knock-on effect, families are separated and community organisations are suffering from declining membership,” she commented, stating that it was absolutely essential that this development be subject to a strict local letting policy to provide quality sustainable homes for local people, and that the town council owed it to those that followed them.

PCC’s cabinet member for housing, Clr. Michelle Bateman said: “This development belongs to the town of Tenby, we must listen and feed your views in at this early stage.”

She said that the local allocations policy would be written closer to the time but would be led by the town council and the community. PCC were keen to extend out to surrounding areas to cover those who might not live here now but were brought up here.

The intention was that one of the engagement sessions would just be on the local lettings policy; and that once the hard work of building was done, PCC would not be walking away, with the aim on building a sustainable community, and for PCC to be the landlords to make sure it is part of the long-term resilience of the town.

Clr. Evans said that it was important for the town council and PCC to work with the community.

“A great deal of what I would call our indigenous population are now forced to be living outside of the town but are still driving children back into our community to go to school and take part in activities because this is where they used to be based,” he explained.

Clr. Blackhall said that he believed that the Brynhir development would help sustain the community as people grew older, and would sustain the town’s three primary schools and Greenhill in the future.

Clr. Evans agreed and said that schools in the locality had suffered ‘massive falling numbers’ as a result of second home ownership.

He said that there were empty classrooms and, in some cases, two year groups had amalgamated into one class due to low numbers.

“Our schools are in dire trouble due to falling numbers and this development will help with building resiliency,” he added.

Following the meeting, PCC stated that they are keen to hear local people’s views and aspirations of the proposed site, ahead of the design stages, and have arranged for an informal public drop-in session to be held at the De Valence in Tenby on Tuesday, March 15 from 12 to 6 pm.

Members of the local community and people who may be on the housing waiting list for the Tenby area are welcome to go along to talk to Council officers from the housing development team.

If applicants are already on the housing register, they do not need to do anything else at this stage.

Further along the process, PCC will be engaging with the community in order to develop a Local Lettings Policy to be used to allocate the first lettings at Brynhir in line with guidelines.

Cabinet Member for Housing Clr. Bateman explained: “The proposed Brynhir development is very exciting and is sure to raise a response from many local people. We’re keen to engage with the community and understand their aspirations or concerns at this very early stage.

“There are no plans or designs to show people yet but it’s important that everyone has the opportunity to provide us with their ideas, so that these can be considered by those responsible for creating initial designs.”

If you wish to contact PCC ahead of this event, you can call the contact centre on 01437 764551 or email the Housing Customer Liaison Team at [email protected]