Affordable homes success in Denbighshire

The Council’s commitment to providing affordable housing in the county is paying dividends, with 185 created in the past three years, bringing the total to 760 in the past 13 years.

Affordable homes have been created across the county through new build and pre-existing homes, helping people to purchase a home on the open market in an area of their choice or through renting.

There are currently a range of different opportunities across the county, including schemes in Henllan, Rhewl and Denbigh. The Homebuy scheme also allows applicants to purchase a home on the open market through providing financial assistance.

To access these opportunities, to purchase or to rent at a discounted rate, people need to register once to be on the Affordable Housing Register. This is run by Grwp Cynefin who can provide individually tailored advice on the options available.

To register, please contact the Affordable Housing team at Grwp Cynefin, on 0300 111 2122.

A major part of the Council’s approach to providing affordable housing is to bring empty properties back into use.

Denbighshire is one of the best Councils in Wales for bringing empty premises back into use, with 130 properties back into use in the last financial year and over 900 empty homes brought back into use since 2010.  There are currently around 700 empty properties in the county and the Council wants to bring even more properties into use through working with their owners. There is a range of advice and financial information available to help owners get long term empty properties back into use.  For further information contact Andrea Fisher in Built Environment on 01824 706717 or built.environment@denbighshire.gov.uk

Warm Zone Energy Efficiency Scheme Project Update

The Council, through their energy conservation programme, have improved the energy efficiency of some of the worst performing houses in Denbighshire.

The energy efficiency of a home and the cost of fuel bills can mean the difference between being comfortable in your own home or being able to afford to eat. Energy inefficient housing creates excessively high fuel bills that can have negative impacts on people’s health and wellbeing.

The private rented sector has some of the lowest energy efficiency ratings in dwellings across Denbighshire. This will has serious implications from April 2018. The Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015 state that all private rented houses with an energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of F and G are ‘substandard’ and cannot be let. A criminal record, substantial fines and a property that cannot be let may be some of the consequences.

Some of the most inefficient houses are located in West Rhyl which is where our last energy conservation project was.

Considerable regeneration work is ongoing around the Gerddi Heulwen area in West Rhyl. As part of this regeneration work 36 dwellings in the area have had their energy efficiency improved from band E, F’s and G’s to band C on the EPC. Many of these houses had been disconnected from the gas main and put onto electric heaters that create excessively high fuel bills and give a poor energy efficiency performance.

Our latest project has improved these properties by reconnecting them to the gas main and replacing the inefficient and expensive electric heating systems with modern and energy efficient gas central heating systems. The work was funded through a successful application to Welsh Government and Warm Zone as part of the Warm homes Programme.

The project brought in over £100,000 of external funding to fund the costs of installation and bring the residents out of fuel poverty. Now many of the remaining houses in the immediate proximity of the regeneration area have good levels of energy efficiency. Each house will now have annual fuel bills reduced by hundreds of pounds.

As part of this project we also worked with Communities First and Citizens Advice Denbighshire. They were able to support training opportunities for local people. CAD provided a bi-lingual Freephone phone line to register properties for the project and were able to offer household visits and provide advice on energy efficiency, income maximisation, reducing debt, managing money and assisting with energy grant applications.

Work due to begin on a £1.2 million environmental improvement project in St Asaph

Work has started on the £1.2 million environmental improvement project for council tenants in St Asaph.

The project will deliver a number of improvements including highways and footpath reconstruction, together with environmental landscaping. On completion, the area will benefit from better parking facilities, traffic calming measures and open area landscaping. Investment in the project will come from Denbighshire Housing, with support from the wider County Council and the Welsh Government.

Dawnus have been appointed as the contractor to deliver this project.  They have a wealth of experience in both building and civil projects and said:  “Dawnus are extremely pleased to be awarded this prestigious improvement scheme at Bro Havard and look forward to working with Denbighshire County Council and the local community to deliver a successful project with minimum disruption to residents”.

On the 11 September, Dawnus started works in and around the Stanley Park area, where a site compound has been set up.  Dawnus are in the process of visiting each property in the area affected by the improvements and will meet residents to discuss the project with them.

Councillor Tony Thomas, Cabinet Lead Member for Housing, said: “We look forward to working with the local community to deliver these improvements and create a vibrant environment that they can be proud to be a part of. This is one of a number of community based projects underway across the county, with a firm commitment by the team to improving the quality of life for local people through quality developments.”

Further key dates during the project are:

• January to March 2018:  landscaping and environmental improvements will begin
• We expect the project to be completed in summer 2018 

Regular updates about the project will be available on the project noticeboard at Stanley Park and also on Denbighshire Housing’s Facebook Page @TaiSirDdinbych.DenbighshireHousing.

If you would like any further information or have any questions, please contact Jayne Valentine jayne.valentine@denbighshire.gov.uk, 07887 541000 or Glyn Forsdick glyn.forsdick@denbighshire.gov.uk, 01824 712959.