Calls for more help to allow young people to build affordable homes in rural areas

A high-profile politician has called for a change in planning rules in Wales to help alleviate the growing housing crisis in rural areas and allow young local people to build affordable homes.

Ceredigion Senedd member, Elin Jones, told our Welsh language current affairs programme,  Y Byd Ar Bedwar,  that it’s time for the Welsh Government to look again at its planning regulations, which she claims are far too stringent.

With over a thousand people between the ages of 20 and 24 leaving Ceredigion each year, according to Welsh Government figures, the politician believes more needs to be done to help young people to stay in the area and secure homes for the future.  

“I know of young people who want to come back and live in their local villages and start families, but buying the kind of home to allow them to do that is almost impossible for young people at the moment, because wages locally aren’t high enough. Our young people are being priced out of the market” said Ms Jones

In Ceredigion, house prices have risen constantly during the Covid crisis, and the average price in the county is now around £225,000 - approximately 10 times the average wage. 

Ceris Jones lives in the rural village of Dihewyd between Lampeter and Aberaeron. Apart from a three-year period studying at Swansea University, she has lived there all her life. 

“This area runs through my blood,” she says proudly. “It’s shaped me, and made me who I am today.”

The 25 year-old works at Bronglais Hospital, Aberystwyth as a Cardiac Physiologist. She wants to stay in the area, but says local house prices have risen so much since the beginning of the Covid crisis, and are way out of reach for young people like her.

“The last four or five houses that have been sold in Dihewyd have gone for greater than £275,000. That’s not making it affordable for local people to stay here.”

Ceris thought she’d found a way of securing her future in the area after her application to build an affordable home on her grandparents’ land was approved by Ceredigion county councillors. But the decision was overturned by the Welsh Government, who deemed it went against national planning guidelines. Ceris says she’s been left angered and distraught. 

“I am the fifth generation here on this farm. To have someone in an office in Cardiff tell me I am not allowed to build a forever home on my family’s farm is heartbreaking. I understand there are rules to be followed, but there has to be some leeway somewhere.”

Ceredigion Senedd Member, Elin Jones, has supported Ceris’ case from the beginning. She believes there was no need for the Welsh Government to intervene - in a matter which had already been approved by local councillors. 

“It’s totally disproportionate of national planning policy to do it this way,” she claims. 

“The final decision should rest locally, so that there’s a degree of scope to reflect local needs. That’s what local councils can provide, and that’s way beyond what national government are doing."

She believes the Welsh Government needs to take appropriate action to help young people like Ceris realise their dreams, and build homes for life in their local areas.  

“We need to be flexing the planning guidance to allow for more young people here in rural wales to be able to stay and live here.”

In response, a Welsh Government spokesperson told ‘Y Byd Ar Bedwar’ it wasn’t possible to comment on individual cases. A statement maintained an investment of £2 billion pounds had been made in affordable housing during the Senedd term, helping to build 20,000 homes. It added that the Welsh Government has the most innovative approach to rural housing planning policy in the UK.

In Dihewyd, Ceris Jones’ dream to build a home on the land that’s so close to her heart, has been shredded. As she tries to come to terms with her disappointment and weigh up her options, she has an impassioned plea for Wales’ planning policy makers.

“You’ve got to take into consideration people’s jobs, where they’ve grown up, and the fact that their Welsh speakers. Because without Welsh speakers, and local people staying in this area, there won’t be a community. And that is heartbreaking.” 

You can catch up with Y Byd Ar Bedwar here. The programme has English subtitles.