A FLAGSHIP Welsh Government scheme aimed at tackling fuel poverty would take about 125 years to support every low-income household at the current rate, the Senedd heard.

Mark Isherwood, the Conservatives’ shadow housing secretary, warned the Warm Homes Nest programme has insufficient funding to address the scale of fuel poverty.

Pointing to an urgent need to improve the energy efficiency of fuel-poor households, he told the Senedd that the scheme supports about 1,600 homes a year.

He said: “At the current rate… it will take well over a century to improve the energy efficiency of the homes of all our lower income households currently estimated to be in fuel poverty.

Mr Isherwood, who represents North Wales, urged Welsh ministers to allocate an estimated £170m from UK Government spending on warm homes for the same purpose in Wales.

Siân Gwenllian, his Plaid Cymru counterpart, echoed concerns about the pace of change, with more than 200,000 households estimated to be living in fuel poverty.

The Arfon Senedd member warned of a lack of clarity on the policy objective, with the Warm Homes programme “somehow” seeking to balance net zero and fuel poverty.

Ms Gwenllian said: “In some cases, both things could go hand in hand. But it can also lead to conflict when you’re trying to achieve two policy objectives within a single programme.”

She pointed to the example of uncertainty around the boiler repair scheme beyond March.

Her Plaid Cymru colleague Llŷr Gruffydd said investment is “woefully short” of what’s required, with Wales having the least energy-efficient housing in western Europe.

The North Wales politician told the Senedd: “While there are good things happening, they’re not happening at the pace or the scale required to make an impact.”

Sioned Williams raised concerns about the Welsh Government’s “out-dated” fuel poverty estimates which pre-date the energy and cost-of-living crisis.

“That survey is meant to be updated every five years but here we are, eight years on, approaching nine, with no update and no sign of one,” said the Plaid Cymru MS.

Raising the example of a couple in their late 70s who live off grid in his Newport East constituency, John Griffiths called for support to be tailored to people’s circumstances.

Jenny Rathbone, a fellow Labour backbencher, said: “In the main two postcodes for my constituency, CF23 and 24, 2019 and 2021 were the bumper years for retrofits.

“But we’re talking 105 and 103 in each of these years, which is obviously very welcome for those homes but a drop in the sea compared with the huge need there is in the private sector, which is where all the coldest homes now are.”

In a statement to the Senedd on January 14, Jayne Bryant set out Welsh Government action aimed at making homes warmer and lowering bills while tackling the climate emergency.

The housing secretary, who was appointed in July, said the Welsh Government has invested more than £30m in the revamped Warm Homes Nest scheme.

Ms Bryant, who is also responsible for councils, said: “We’re tackling fuel poverty through a two-pronged strategy: providing expert advice to Welsh households while delivering physical improvements to our least energy efficient homes, which cost more to heat.

“Our renewed programme, launched in April, is already making a real difference.”

Ms Bryant encouraged anybody worried about their energy bill or heating their home to call the scheme’s freephone number, 0808 808 2244.

A CALL to amend plans for a new estate of 54 homes in a south Pembrokeshire seaside village to allow the first of them to be occupied unhindered by plant vehicles while works continue has been submitted.

Back in September 2023, the application for the estate, which includes a mix of 19 affordable properties, on land north of Whitlow, Saundersfoot, was approved by Pembrokeshire Coast National Park planners.

No objection to the plans was received by local community council Saundersfoot, other than concerns regarding the possibility of properties being sold as second homes, but several letters of objection were received, raising concerns including the potential for the new dwellings to become holiday lets, loss of privacy to neighbouring properties, loss of views, and the impact on existing property values.

The applicants are now seeking to amend two of the long string of conditions which accompanied approval to improve access for new home-owners while they build the estate by extending the time allowed for a construction vehicle access route, a condition of which was it would be ‘stopped up’ when the site reached a certain size.

The applicants say the proposed main access is now in place, and four detached dwelling are “at an advanced stage of construction,” and “It is anticipated that the first occupation on the site will take place in the forthcoming two months”.

The application adds: “Those new residents will of course be provided with uninterrupted access via the new estate road arrangements onto Narberth Road. The existing, northern access remains in place at this time and has served the scheme well in providing access for all construction vehicles,” adding: “The applicants wish to continue this arrangement, which will ensure that construction traffic and operatives do not have to use the newly formed main access and estate road, and thus potentially come into conflict with new residents on this first phase of development and also the next subsequent phase which will involve the construction of the affordable units on the site for the local registered social landlord.”

It stresses: “It should also be pointed out that the existing access will only be used by construction traffic, and at no time by new occupier traffic.”

The amendment will be considered by park planners at a later date.

THE EARLY stages of plans for a potential housing scheme at a Pembrokeshire military training camp, controversially used to house asylum seekers, have been submitted to the national park.

The camp, which has been in existence since 1860 as a military training facility, was prominent in the headlines between October 2020 and March 2021 when it became the controversial base for asylum seekers.

Amid protests from inside and outside its gates, the camp housed up to 250 asylum seekers at the height of its occupancy.

It came under fire from its residents and independent inspectors for its poor living conditions.

After the last of the asylum seekers departed, it was handed back to the MoD by the Home Office, who had previously repurposed it, the camp itself closed in late 2022, and was put up for sale the following year.

During the camp’s usage there were protests from both inside and outside the camp, with more than 200 people protesting at one stage against the plans and numerous arrests made.

The camp housed up to 250 men at any one time, and a 30-strong group of them took to the streets of Tenby in a march to show their unhappiness at what they said was their ‘prison-like’ environment.

At the time of that 2021 protest by the camp inhabitants, a spokesman for Stand Up to Racism West Wales said: “They have had enough of the poor food, bullying from security staff, cold huts, lack of medical care, blocked toilets, poor adherence to Covid regulations (some staff don’t bother to wear masks), lack of mental health support, but above all, being treated as prisoners rather than asylum seekers.

“Things must change.

“They need to be transferred to proper accommodation. Other camps in England are doing this.

“Why not Penally?”

Despite the-then Home Secretary Priti Patel maintaining that there had been consultation with ‘everybody’, a 2021 independent report stated that the Home Office did not consult in advance with local stakeholders – such as those who needed to set up healthcare for residents.

The inspectors were from the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP).

Their report highlighted ‘filthy’ conditions in parts of the accommodation and residents feeling ‘depressed’, ‘hopeless’ and ‘trapped in poor conditions’.

An early stage ‘observations’ application, validated by Pembrokeshire Coast National Park planners, lists “Proposed residential redevelopment of the former Penally Training Camp,” the scheme listed as being received on January 7 and currently being processed.

The national park has been approached for further details about the scheme proposed.