Welsh council applies to suspend Right to Buy

Isle of Anglesey County Council has become the latest council in Wales to apply to suspend the Right to Buy scheme.

The council has approved plans to suspend to scheme, which offers social housing tenants a discount of up to £8,000 to buy their home, and will now apply to to the Welsh Government to approve the plans.

If the plans are approved, Isle of Anglesey will join Swansea and Carmarthenshire councils who have already successfully halted Right to Buy sales.

The council is one of 11 in Wales that retains housing stock and currently owns and manages around 3,800 homes on the island. The decision to halt Right to Buy sales followed a consultation that found 72 per cent of council tenants thought suspending the scheme would be a positive step to increasing the supply of affordable rented housing.

As well as suspending Right to Buy, the council has also been given the green light to build at least 500 new homes over the next 30 years to improve housing stock.

Shan Lloyd Williams, head of housing services, said: “It is common knowledge that there is a shortage of affordable housing across Wales and the rest of the UK. Every property sold by the county council through its Right to Buy scheme reduces our ability to provide affordable social housing to meet local need.”

Cllr Aled Morris Jones, housing portfolio holder, added: “With housing matters in Wales devolved, the Welsh Government is offering local authorities the opportunity to submit a voluntary application to suspend tenants’ Right to Buy for a period of five years.

“Our aim is to increase the number of affordable rented properties on the island and we now hope that our application will be successful. A suspension would certainly help us meet the growing demand for affordable rented housing and bolster our housing stock on Anglesey.”