BUILDING more homes to help people “in desperate need” will be a key issue in Monmouthshire council’s new blueprint for housing, a meeting has heard.

A report providing an update on the council’s current Local Development Plan (LDP), which runs from 2011 – 2021, shows the council is now 1,469 homes short of its house building target.

Last year, 356 homes were completed, which was 94 short of its yearly target of 450.

Affordable housing is a particular concern in the county, with more than 2,000 people said to be on the waiting list in the county.

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However the number of affordable homes built has increased in the last two years, with 82 completed last year against a target of 96.

At an economy and development select committee meeting on Monday, Cllr Alan Davies asked about the council’s plans to increase the amount of affordable housing in the county.

Craig O’Connor, the council’s head of planning, said the council is currently preparing a replacement LDP – its blueprint for housing – with affordable homes a key consideration.

“There are people out there in desperate need of a home and we need to address that,” he said.

“Going forward with the replacement LDP we will be looking to address this as one of our key issues that needs to be reviewed.

“This is a significant issue for Monmouthshire and a significant issue we need to deliver on.”

The council previously agreed to give consideration to accepting developments on land which is not allocated for housing in its LDP.

Plans for 130 homes, including 45 affordable, were approved in an unallocated site off Church Road in Caldicot to help meet the ‘deficit’ of housing being built.

But Mr O’Connor said the Welsh Government had given “clear guidance” that sites need to be located in the LDP to be supported.

Another contentious application, for up to 111 homes in Raglan, was approved by the council but overturned by the Welsh Government due to going against the LDP.

Cllr Davies said the new LDP needs to be “as ambitious as it can possibly be”.

“I would hope we do everything we can to provide that affordable housing, and housing in general,” he said.