Part of the Local Development Plan for Hay-on-Wye is a proposal to build 83 new houses on the outskirts of Hay along the Brecon Road. Some of these are supposed to be "affordable housing" though I'm not sure how many, and there has been some discussion of the proposals in Town Council meetings.
Now there is a new group in town to object to the scale of these proposals. It's called the Hay LDP Action Group, and has a page on Facebook already. The organisers are Dawn Lewis and Kathleen Branagan, and they have sent a detailed (and quite long) letter to the Chief Executive of Brecon Beacons Planning Authority with all their objections - which include insufficient consultation with interested parties (something that comes up with depressing regularity in plans that local authorities decide to implement). The full text of the letter is available on the Facebook page. Kathleen Branagan was the lady who put her name forward to be considered as a Hay Town Councillor, when David Gittins was chosen instead.
While the Affordable Housing group have identified some 41 families in housing need in the Hay area, it does not seem that more than a fraction of these people would be helped by this large new development, and it does make me wonder where members of 83 new families would find work - would they be commuting to Hereford or Brecon, or even further afield?
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Perhaps they'll take as long to fill as "the exciting new development" down at Millbank. If the price is sufficiently, attractively high, perhaps the Haycox/Florence axis will buy one half as cutesy festival stabling for the braying pashmina brigade, and other councillor/property developer interests will snap up the rest and turn them into reassuringly expensive eco-retreats for people with enough money to fill their 4x4s for regular weekend trips.
P.H.
Was David Gittins really eligible to be chosen for the council? A business interest in Hay ought to require the businessman to be present when conducting his business. Simply letting out a house he owns that happens to be in Hay sounds a bit flimsy to me. I wouldn't be surprised if his so-called "election" to the council was over-turned. Good luck Kathleen Branagan!
It was actually Dawn Lewis who stood against David Gittins but you are right, it is very questionable how he was elected.
I was present at the hearing on the 5th September at the Castle Hotel in Brecon when this proposed development and others were discussed. The ladies stressed that the consultation process has been very poor and that residents of Hay had not had time to express their concerns.
On the affordable house issue, when these ladies stated that as the LDP should be to meet local needs, and that the only 'local' need was for affordable houses, Dawn asked what guarantee was there that they would include these as stated. The inspector gave NO guarantee!! As with the Millbank development I feel these will not be delivered, thus the developer will be allowed to continue to build houses with prices out of the reach of 'local' people. Just what Hay needs ..... not!
Thanks Mr Blobby, great name for someone living in toy town!!! But I wasn't even in the race... but i really feel Dawn Lewis should have gone in. She would been an asset to the town as she is a grafter who understands how things work. We need people like this... Kathleen (aka noddy)
I've never heard a pashmina bray. What does it sound like?
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