A Plaid Cymru MS for South East Wales has met with a housing association to seek reassurances after receiving complaints that residents would be forced out of their homes.
Peredur Owen Griffiths MS met with Newport City Homes (NCH) who are currently consulting on the future of the Somerton estate which contains 355 properties; 203 of which are housing association owned tenanted properties, leaving 153 privately owned.
Prior to the meeting, a homeowner on the Somerton estate contacted Peredur to say he feared having his home compulsory purchased if he didn’t go along with development plans.
Following his meeting, Peredur said he had received assurances from NCH senior management that compulsory purchase orders would not be sought.
“I was grateful to NCH for meeting with me at short notice,” said Peredur. “They said they are at an early stage in their consultation on the future of the estate with renovation or rebuild being two of the options on the table.
“They want to speak to as many people as possible to gauge what local residents want for Somerton. They currently have collected the views of a third of residents but want to increase this significantly and have been going door-to-door to canvass opinions.”
Peredur added: “NCH were able to provide me with assurances that people would not be forced into moving out of their homes if they didn’t agree to having one of the new builds on the estate - if that is the course of action that is eventually taken.
“They also said that every effort would be made to maintain close-knit neighbourly links if people do decide to move to a new build.
“As a Member of the Senedd whose portfolio includes community, it was good to hear that there is a commitment to maintaining good community links between family and friends living on the estate.”
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