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Celebrating 100 years of council homes in Cardiff


 10/03/20

A series of community fun days will take place in hubs and libraries to celebrate the centenary of council housing in Cardiff.

 

Fun-packed ‘Celebrating Neighbourhoods' events to mark the 100thanniversary since the creation of Cardiff's first council home will be held across the city.

 

Cardiff joins councils across the UK in marking the milestone, after the 1919 Addison Act tasked local authorities with delivering new homes to meet demand in their area, amid severe housing shortages at that time. While the city council at the time committed to delivering properties in 1919, it wasn't until Spring 1920 that the first council home was built in the capital.

 

This year's events will celebrate council housing throughout the past 100 years, kicking off on Wednesday March 11 with a 1920s  to 1940s -themed community day in Ely and Caerau Hub - the area where the council first built stock on a large scale in the 1920s.

 

Events will also be held in STAR Hub, Llanrumney Hub, the Powerhouse Hub in Llanedeyrn and St Mellons Hub.

 

Communities are invited to attend the events where there will be free family activities, retro games, refreshments,music, an opportunity to learn about the history of council housing in the city using the resources at Cathays Branch and Heritage Library and a chance to share their memories and experiences of living in a council home over the years with fellow tenants and others.

 

A citywide competition will be launched at the community fun day at Ely and Caerau Hub tasking children under 16 to design and build a council home from the 1920s, 1930s, 1950s or 1960s on Minecraft.  The winner will collect an Amazon gift voucher for themselves and a free Minecraft Club session for their school.

 

Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities, Cllr Lynda Thorne, said: "1919 represented a significant step forward in housing provision in the UK but it wasn't until 1920 that the first council house was delivered in Cardiff and why we are celebrating this year.

 

"Just over 100 years on and council housing remains anessential resource. We havecome a very long way since that time but what hasn't changed is the need to address increasing pressures for affordable housing, which we're doing through our housing developmentstrategy.

 

"The strategy represents the largest council housing building programme in Wales and a £280 million investment into building affordable, high quality, sustainable and energy-efficient homes.

 

"We know that affordable housing is importantto families and remaincommitted to delivering council homes for people who need them the most.  That's why we are building council housing on a large scale again as part of our ambitious development programme to build 2,000 good quality, affordable homes, 1,000 of which will be completed by 2022.

 

"These events in hubs will be a chance to mark this historic milestone, remember and celebrate council homes built in the city over the past 100 years but also look forward to the exciting plans we have for the future. Everyone is welcome to join us and we look forward to hearing people's memories of council housing in Cardiff over the years."

 

Council minutes and newspaper reports from 1919 held at Cathays Branch and Heritage Library document how the local authority initially identified the need to deliver 1,000 council houses over three years in the city. Records also reveal plans for a housing scheme at Eldon Street, which is now Ninian Park Road in Riverside, as well as large developments in Mynachdy and Ely.

 

The first tenant to take possession of their new council home in Cardiff following the Addison Act was handed the keys to their property on Eldon Street in the summer of 1920.