MONMOUTHSHIRE has taken its first steps towards becoming the first council in south east Wales to establish its own housing company.

A motion tabled by Councillor Dimitri Batrouni calling for the authority to consider forming a local housing company (LHC) drew support from across the council chamber on Thursday.

The Labour opposition leader said action had to be taken to remedy the private housing sector’s “failure” in Monmouthshire, as well as the shortcomings of the council’s local development plan (LDP).

“We are short of 1,300 completed homes of any kind, short of 257 affordable homes and there’s currently 3,000 people on the housing register,” said Cllr Batrouni.

“There are currently 250 homeless applications going through the council and the council spends just under £300,000 on temporary housing accommodation per year – an increase on last of 10 per cent.

“There is a devastating social angle the inadequate delivery of homes this county is having on our residents. We are at crisis point.”

Cllr Batrouni said that the council had been hamstrung by legislation preventing them from retaking “direct control” of council housing since Monmouthshire Housing Association took over in 2008.

The meeting heard that LHCs will aim to deliver a range of housing, including private and purpose-built homes for the elderly.

“The private homes will help subsidise and fund affordable housing,” said Cllr Batrouni.

“We will have control over those [affordable housing] percentages and we won’t argue for those percentages to be dropped like private sector companies do.”

With the effect of the impending abolition of the Severn Crossing tolls already being felt through spiking house prices, Cllr Batrouni also urged the council to do more to keep young people in Monmouthshire.

Such proposals drew support from leader Councillor Peter Fox and his cabinet, along with the council’s chief executive Paul Matthews.

“There is a shared desire to do more in terms of providing housing. The proposal potentially gives another significant string to our bow,” said Mr Matthews.

Others were also supportive although Councillor Simon Howarth questioned whether the council would be “taking profit before investing in infrastructure”.

The Independent councillor also proposed a new settlement be formed in Monmouthshire where “the structure was correct”.

He said: “We have the land and the capability. Filling up our towns with houses isn’t the way forward.”

Conservative councillor Giles Howard agreed that the council could no longer rely on the private sector, adding: “Even if a new LDP were to deliver 5,000 houses over a 10-year period, and if we set affordable housing at 20 per cent, that barely scratches the surface. So [an LHC] has to be the way forward.”

Council officers will now set to work determining an evidence-based proposition for an LHC and will report back in September.