Housing demolitions: April 2016 to March 2017

Main points

• During 2016-17, a total of 129 dwellings were demolished across Wales which is a third less than the number demolished in 2015-16.
• During 2016-17, there were no demolitions in 9 of the 22 local authorities and in the remaining 13 authorities numbers ranged from 27 in Denbighshire to just 3 in Wrexham, Powys, Pembrokeshire and Swansea.
• At a local authority level, the number of dwellings demolished annually can vary widely from year to year, and will be dependent on the level of development and clearance work within each authority over the period. In Flintshire only 4 dwellings were demolished during 2016-17 whilst in the previous year it reported 114 dwellings demolished due to a local regeneration strategy.
• During 2016-17, there were 45 dwellings (35%) demolished within renewal areas(a). Of these 23 were in Torfaen and 22 were in Denbighshire.
• There were just 4 demolitions reported in clearance areas(b) in 2016-17.

(a) Area based housing renewal schemes enable local authorities to focus activity and investment on areas that combine a need for assistance with the potential for regeneration.

(b) Clearance areas are those where the houses are deemed unfit for human habitation or are dangerous or harmful to the health of the inhabitants. The local authority declares a clearance area when it is satisfied that the most suitable method of dealing with these conditions is the demolition of all the buildings in that area.

This information is used by the Welsh Government to calculate dwelling stock estimates for Wales.