A housing association has launched a plan to help stem the tide of rural depopulation in North Wales.
Grŵp Cynefin, which operates across the six counties of north Wales and north Powys, is intending to build 300 new homes by 2028.
Central to its newly-launched corporate plan is to increase the stock of affordable housing, boost the local economy and support the Welsh language at the same time. The strategy, called A Place to Belong, also includes decarbonising thousands of existing homes.
That process has started already with £12 million being spent on green, energy saving measures in more than 400 properties over the past 12 months.
Grŵp Cynefin, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last year, has a newly-appointed executive leadership team supporting Chief Executive Mel Evans’ new vision for the group.
Grŵp Cynefin was established following the merger of two housing associations, Tai Clwyd and Tai Eryri and has two main offices in Penygroes and Denbigh. It also has two subsidiary companies, Canllaw and Conwy and Denbighshire Care & Repair which help older homeowners and tenants in private sector housing aged to live independently.
According to Mel Evans, more than 500 tenants, staff and board members played a role in devising the new plan for 2025-28.
Changing the organisation’s strapline from Mwy na Thai/More than Housing to Lle i Berthyn/A Place to Belong was, he said, done deliberately to mark a new chapter for Grŵp Cynefin and emphasise that it is a friendly, welcoming and inclusive organisation.
Mr Evans said:
“Our aim is to be an inclusive and effective organisation that provides safe, quality and sustainable homes. The launch of the new corporate plan is an important step because it’s a reset for Grŵp Cynefin as a whole, that outlines our future direction and a strategy for achieving our goals.
“We unveiled the plan and the new strapline at a series of meetings with our staff, tenants, customers and board members and I’m glad to say it was warmly received. It neatly and succinctly sums up our ethos, both in terms of providing housing and a place to work.
“The need for affordable housing is huge. There are more people in temporary accommodation in Wales than there have ever been. Traditionally, they used to be mainly single people, but research shows that there are now more families as well as young people. We are aiming to build 300 new homes by 2028 which is a reasonable objective for an organisation of our size.
“Our mission is to build much needed homes in our traditional communities, support the Welsh language and enable people to remain in their own communities. That is in in Grŵp Cynefin’s DNA.
“Depopulation in these areas has been problem for decades and our aim is to work with our partners, like local councils, to stem that tide of people moving away.
“As a housing association that works through the medium of Welsh, it is also part of our mission to promote the language in our rural areas. As well as building homes, we’re boosting the local economy and creating opportunities and supporting local supply chains whenever possible.
“We want to support local people to grow with us and we are putting measures in place to enable smaller contractors to bid for work with us. We also want to provide work opportunities and apprenticeships for young people in our communities.
“As well as being important to our tenants, we also want our staff to feel they have A Place to Belong.
“Providing opportunities for professional development for our staff is a priority and with that in mind we have just appointed a new training and education officer. We want to ensure that our staff can enjoy career progression within Grŵp Cynefin.
“Our efforts will be focused on making the most of every penny we have to invest in our housing stock for the benefit of our tenants and our communities. It’s also great news for the local economy which is why we are so keen on keeping the Welsh pound in Wales.”
As well as building new homes, Grŵp Cynefin says it will also focus on improving its existing stock of 5,000 homes.
Mr Evans added:
“We are also committed to an ambitious investment programme on our existing housing stock to ensure our homes are comfortable and safe for all our tenants.
“We also have a programme in place to decarbonise our homes through the installation of solar panels, air source heat pumps, better insulation, new windows, in partnership with Welsh Government.
“Decarbonising our stock is important on so many levels as it will reduce energy costs for our tenants and be better for the environment at the same time.”
According to Grŵp Cynefin chair Tim Jones, the corporate plan marked the beginning of a new and exciting chapter in the history of the organisation.
He said:
“I am a new Chair, Mel is a new Chief Executive and we have a new senior management structure and a new way of working.
“We want to be much more open and inclusive so we can ensure that our tenants and staff all feel part of the Grŵp Cynefin family.
“That’s why we involved so many people, tenants and staff, in drawing up the plan rather than a remote leadership team in an ivory tower dictating things from the top.
“Over the past year I have spoken to many tenants and staff and it’s clear that many people feel they belong.
“It’s more than a place where you work from 9 to 5, most of the business is done through the medium of Welsh and they are part of the community they serve and they dedicate themselves to improving the lives of our tenants.”
