Campaign for Homes 4 Locals
March 27, 2007
If the county councils of Wales fail to follow the lead shown in England, current levels of inward-migration to rural Wales could rise significantly, is the latest warning from the communities pressure group Cymuned.
Cymuned launched a website which calls on the county councils of Wales to adopt policies similar to those in England which allow new residential build for local need only,Homes4Locals.com, in Caernarfon and Wrecsam last Saturday.
‘This is the first time we have held a protest of this kind in two places at the same time,’ says Cymuned Chief Executive Aran Jones, ‘which shows how much our support is growing, particularly in the North-East. We are now looking forward to hearing from the county councils in response to our request for them to hold democratic, open votes on this matter.’
In the face of a painfully slow response from Welsh politicians,the housing crisis is continuing to worsen - this year, 17% more householders in social housing lost their homes than in 2004/5 - and Cymuned believe that the situation could reach nightmarish conditions in the course of the next decade.
‘The English countryside is being increasingly successfully defended against inappropriate speculative development,’ says Aran Jones, ‘and if the same kind of policies aren’t adopted in Wales, speculative developers will increasingly see Wales as an easy option, and the current levels of inward migration could become significantly worse.’
‘The support for this campaign at grassroots level so far has been staggering,’ says Aran Jones, ‘and it is extremely important that we now move on to see this policy getting a fair and full discussion in our county councils, with a democratic opportunity for the councillors to vote in favour of a sustainable future for all our communities.’
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