A presentation by the Development and Regeneration Manager
Minutes:
The Development and Regeneration Manager delivered a presentation on National Development Framework
Main Points
National Development Framework was written by Welsh Government. Newport City Council could feed into the document but are not responsible for its outcome. It also covered the whole of Wales.
Strategic Development Plan is at a leader’s level and there was an endorsement to go back to councils to agree the plan to cover 10 authorities. Newport would need to start work on a strategic plan and would need to look at planning at a local level and could liaise with another authority to do a joint plan.
Place Plans are what the Community Councils lead on and NDF was first in the Development plan tier. This meant that planners do not ask councils whether they agree or not. They could assist with the place plans but Councils were the lead on this.
In relation to the Boundaries Issue the boundary did not represent properties in a village and the boundary change was refused and this would change. Plans were subject to consultation. The local Development plan was 4 years into adoption. The Council spent two years to develop it but the boundaries were abolished and so Community Councils were not involved in making decisions but could only raise objections.
Place Plans were Community Council decisions.
What was a Place Plan? It was known as supplementary planning guidance and was more at a local level. It was aligned with a plan for rural areas etc so for example 10,000 house could not be built in a certain rural area. Infill planning would be supported however, so a field full of houses would not be appropriate but maybe they could be built around the edges. It was land used based and not person based.
A representative stated that this was difficult for Newport to control and that Community Councils needed to be told of plans. There was a concern that maybe plans needed to be changed, was there a need for ring fencing, more houses for local people were needed. There was also concerns expressed that villages were dying as they were not allowed to expand. Bus Services were also being removed.
National Development Framework
The Welsh Government vision was to meet the wellbeing goals for current and future generations and everything needed to align with this vision. There was a consultation on the draft at present and everyone was encouraged to engage with it. The draft could then be commented on by the Community Councils.
The draft when available would then be circulated by the Governance Officer.
· The NDF will include regional housing targets; 10,000 homes to be built by 2026 and it is what the region could provide rather then what each authority say that they want.
· The Strategic transport links were very important as people could not get in and out of the area. It was hoped that people could get away from using their car and use sustainable transport instead. It was commented how the M4 relief road was now off the table.
· There was also comments on major growth areas, in Monmouth there were 3 new settlements. In relation to Energy Projects, tidal lagoons around Newport and Cardiff were being planned.
· In relation to climate change it was planned to have no fossil fuel cars by 2050.
There was an email address on the presentation ndf@gov.wales and it was also possible to sign up to the Welsh Government newsletter to be kept informed.
Final Thoughts
It was mentioned that NDF was a very high level strategic document and it was not obvious how it affected individual communities. However shaping the NDF now could help shape communities in the future.
A short video by Welsh Government on NDF was shown to members of the meeting.
Questions:
It was confirmed that 2040 plus was the term of the plan.
In relation to the plan for 10,000 new homes to be built it was asked whether this process had started. It was confirmed that 4,000 had already been built and that the housing projection was based on housing need. In 2026 it was imagined what Newport would look like, people now lived longer, there were also single parent families, more people may own a second home in the future and so it was based on this data. The relief road was shelved and it was not adequate anyway, the infrastructure should be in place before houses were built.
A representative commented that a motorway could not compare with the 10,000 houses being built.
It was stated that the housing need was always there so accommodation needed to be provided and infrastructure needed to catch up.
There was a Cardiff development in the pipeline which was a major development, and this would hit junctions 30, 31 and 32 compared to just 10,000 houses.
A representative enquired about natural places and how they didn’t want the green around the city to be destroyed. It was confirmed that 99% of houses are on brown field first. Llanwern has provided a lot of this in the protection of the existing development plan. It was commented that Llanwern was needed in addition to the brown field sites and some green sites have been built on eg Llanwern green field site.
A representative commented that the place plans were very useful as they had been on the training.
Members of the meeting were informed that the Local Development Plan was on the council website to view.
A representative asked about the demise of the city centre and was anything being done to develop the city centre, as there was a lot of empty buildings.
It was commented that Newport was focused on regeneration and there was a lot of outside investors now showing interest in the city and its property. Absent landlords were a problem however, and can sometimes have little interest in the property and just want the return but don’t want to improve on the interest they had.
Grants were limited and the Welsh Government was relied on and also the heritage lottery fund to give incentive to outside investors. The more that retailers leave then the more empty properties were left.
Agreed:
For the NDF draft to be circulated to Community Councils when available.