Controversial temporary accommodation site ready to open

Ted Peskett, local democracy reporter

The first residents are set to move into a controversial emergency housing site made up of portable cabins in a Welsh town.

Vale of Glamorgan Council started work on the 90 temporary accommodation units at the former Eagleswell Primary School site in Llantwit Major in 2023 after pushing the scheme through using special planning powers.

The project has now been signed off by the local authority’s planning and building control teams.

Residents complained about the way the plans initially went through and said there should have been a consultation process, with some cabins just metres from their back gardens.

The homes will provide shelter for Ukrainian refugees and families on the council’s housing waiting list who have been waiting months for the site to open.

‘Dignified solution’

Council leader Lis Burnett said the site will be important in “easing the pressure on council housing stock” and “represents a far more dignified solution” than using hotels.

As well as the general design of the buildings, some people living near the site complained they were able to see into them from their upstairs windows.

The site given was planning permission to remain in place for a minimum of five more years in July .

However, residents continue to campaign against Vale of Glamorgan Council for the way it dealt with the scheme and have raised enough funds to take legal action against the local authority.

There were also complaints from some people in Llantwit Major that the site should have been used for a new medical centre to ease pressure on local services.

Vale of Glamorgan Council said it has been in discussion with Cardiff and Vale University Health Board about the use of some or all of the site for a health facility for the town.

Permitted development rights

When the housing site, known as Heol Croeso, was initially approved, it was done so through what is known as permitted development rights.

Permitted development rights are usually used in an emergency, like the housing of Ukrainian refugees. The development must eventually get planning permission within 12 months of the date of construction starting.

One woman who had driven about 1,800 miles from the war in Ukraine to the UK with her son in 2022 told us she was given a number of dates for when they would be able to move into Heol Croeso.

Kateryna Gorodnycha and her son, Timur, have been living in a small hostel room in Barry with all of the possessions they took with them, including two cats, while they wait.

Kateryna said when we spoke to her earlier this month: “I lived with sponsors for more than two years and if we [had moved] in in time, the first date we were promised was March 2024.

“If we had moved there in March it would be just two years with sponsors and it would be perfect for everybody.

“Our sponsors, we are so grateful for them because they waited and waited and they didn’t ask us to leave them, but the circumstances [became] worse and we had to move this summer in July.”

Kateryna said the opening date for the Eagleswell site continued to move, going from June to August and then to September.

She added: “It probably wouldn’t be an issue if we would stay here for a month, for one month, but staying here longer and having to deliver my son to school every day, it effects me.”

Tenants at Heol Croeso will be charged a flat rate of £174.27 a week plus a £40.72 service charge to cover utilities and other costs. That works out at £859 every four weeks.