Party of Wales Gwynedd Councillors' Group

The councillor who leads on housing in Gwynedd is calling on communities to take advantage of grants to help turn disused spaces into affordable residential housing for local people.

"We have a number of individual schemes to help ensure that people are able to continue to live here in Gwynedd and I’m keen to encourage people to take advantage of every opportunity available to them within our Gwynedd Housing Action Plan," explains Plaid Cymru Gwynedd Councillor, Paul Rowlinson.

One of these is a grant of £50,000 for community regeneration projects if the scheme includes a home. The funding supports projects that have already received financial support but need additional support to help convert disused space into an affordable residential unit for local people.

A Pen Llŷn community that has recently been successful in applying for the funding is Plas Carmel in Anelog near Aberdaron, Gwynedd The grant has been awarded through Cyngor Gwynedd to help transform the chapel house into an affordable rental home for local residents.

At Plas Carmel, the chapel house, a Grade II listed three-bedroom building attached to the chapel, is being transformed into a high quality home for local people to live in whilst respecting the historic significance of the building.

Mared Llywelyn, Plas Carmel’s Education and Volunteering Officer, said: “The grant from Cyngor Gwynedd has been a huge help as we renovate Tŷ Capel Plas. Our vision is that Plas Carmel is there for the local community, and that people feel they have ownership of the site.  

“By renting the house, we hope to meet the local need for rental housing, and that it will be a comfortable, high-quality home for local individuals or families.” 

Councillor Paul Rowlinson added: "I'm delighted that Plas Carmel has been successful in their application. The volunteers have worked hard on the first phase of their scheme, and are now ready to move forward with the second phase.

"This funding supports projects that have already received financial support but need additional support to complete an element of creating homes within their schemes. I would urge community initiatives like Plas Carmel to discuss their plans with Cyngor Gwynedd, so that we can see if we can help them."

The Cyngor Gwynedd grant is available for schemes where a community regeneration project such as a café, pub, shop or community venue includes redundant space that could be converted into a unit to live in.

Plas Carmel has already secured funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to develop the historic chapel to create a community and heritage resource. The new chapel house will generate valuable income, through rent, for the community enterprise to help ensure that the project is economically sustainable.

This grant scheme is part of Cyngor Gwynedd's Housing Action Plan (ref: 3g), which includes schemes to tackle homelessness, bring empty homes back into use and build new homes to ensure that the people of Gwynedd have access to suitable, high quality, affordable homes in their own communities.

For more information about the grants scheme, visit the Cyngor Gwynedd website.