Yesterday evening we attended the One Voice Wales Ceredigion Area Meeting, and amongst the interesting topics discussed was the need for rural social housing.

Elen Grantham, who is the Ceredigion and surrounding area Rural Housing Enabler, gave a presentation on the need for social housing in rural towns and communities, where house and rent prices tend to be higher, but wages lower.

A lack of affordable homes, coupled with less work opportunities means that Ceredigion loses a high number of its young people. This has a knock on effect in the communities, with less numbers attending the schools, fewer people to use local amenities etc, which in turn reduces jobs, and the cycle continues.

The presentation did not concentrate solely on the standard social housing which most are aware of, but also other opportunities such as ‘Shared Ownership’, ‘Shared Equity & Homebuy’ and ‘Affordable Housing for Sale’ for local people in their local communities.

Below is a snippet of information from the Tai Ceredigion website, but below/on the website are links to further information.

If you have any opinions on the matter in our community, we would love to know and be able to pass the information on to Elen. Part of her job and the purpose of her presentation was to liaise with rural communities, seeking their opinions and needs.

Do you feel there is a need? Do you know someone, or are you struggling to get onto the property ladder, or even pay the rent? House prices are high, wages are low, making ends meet and getting a foot on the property ladder is a National epidemic. Please feel free to get in touch if you have any views or ideas on the matter.

www.rhewales.co.uk  Rural Housing Enabler

Articles on the matter:

www.tivysideadvertiser.co.uk/news/16095445.Call_to_halt___39_the_brain_drain__39__from_West_Wales/

http://www.cambrian-news.co.uk/article.cfm?id=119884&headline=More%20than%201,000%20young%20adults%20per%20year%20leave%20Ceredigion%20to%20find%20work&sectionIs=news&searchyear=2018

Over the last few weeks, whilst inviting and marketing the upcoming Community Council AGM, I have been asked the very same question time and time again, and it’s the very same question I asked before I looked into it and joined last year…

What is the Community Council? and What do they do?

What is the Community Council? Well the website has an ‘about us’ page which has a fab bit of info to cover that, so I’ll concentrate on What do they do? www.ccystradfflurcc.org.uk/about/

What do they do?

One Voice Wales have put together a great ‘Guide to Community & Town Councils and their Roles’. This is actually the document that I read when I was doing my research into becoming a Community Councillor.

OVW Community and Town Councils and the role of Local Councillors

In short, as a Community Council we have powers which fall into 3 main categories:

1.  Representing the whole electorate within the Community
2. Delivering services to meet local needs
3. Strive to improve quality in life in the Community

As a Community Council we have an annual budget funded by the ‘precept’ from the Council Tax. This allows us to fund things such as grass cutting, street lights, maintenance of bus shelters, the park, the war memorial, and so on. It also allows for donations to local organisations and charities, as well as the running of the Community Council, in the way of Insurance, the Clerk’s salary and the websites running costs.

For more information on what we do, the best place to be is at the meetings, you are always welcome, but if you can’t make it take a look at the meeting minutes.

We are always striving to do more, so if you have an idea, or concern that we can help with, please just let us know, and we really will do our best.