Discussion with Matthew Sharp-Development and Regeneration Manager
Minutes:
Matthew Sharp-Development and Regeneration Manager presented this item to the meeting.
Matthew explained that the LDP included allocations for housing, employment, and schools in areas where the Council were looking to promote growth. This also included areas where we were looking to protect the countryside and various areas of historical and environmental assets.
Points to note:
· The current LDP covered the plan period from 2011 to 2026 and was adopted in January 2015.
· Since the start of the plan period April 2011, 6,500 new homes have been built with over 20% of those still being affordable with 94% on brownfield land. There was also 26 hectares of employment land that has come forward.
· The current LDP is over 6 years old so needed to be reviewed. There were informal discussions at the 4-year mark, with the delivery rates in relation to housing being quite successful. However, as it was now 6 years in, there was time for a review.
· There was an argument that there was a need for more strategic sites to be put forward. Earlier in the year a Future Wales National Development Plan was published by Welsh Government, and this was the highest level of strategic plan in Wales.
· This plan identified Newport and the surrounding area as an area of national growth.
· In summary, reviewing the LDP will help boost economic recovery and be more intrinsically linked to our wellbeing plan.
· A delivery agreement was drawn up which was a timetable for the delivery of the revised LDP. This also included a Community Involvement Scheme which sets out when and how the Council will consult and engage with stakeholders, at what stages, which records to include along with engagement with the Community Councils.
· The delivery agreement was approved in May 2021 which includes a community involvement scheme which sets out who, when and how the Council will consult and engage with stakeholders including the public.
· The public have been asked what sites they would like to put forward as part of the new plan.
· Stage 3- This would be the first draft of the LDP and there would be plenty of opportunities for public consultation - August 2022.
· The Deposit plan would then be submitted to Welsh Government to be examined in Summer 2024 with discussions. Objectors and supporters can forward their ideas, and this encourages engagement.
· Eventually the inspectors report will be released in 2025 and that would then be adopted as the new plan. It was a long process, so engagement was important.
Next Stages:
Next step would be engaging with key stakeholders to find out what the aspirations were, with a variety of scenarios and growth options and these would be shared with the public to identify the level of growth in Newport to be achieved; the current LDP sets out a housing target of 10,000 new dwellings.
· Village Boundary Assessments would also be looked at soon. Within the urban boundary there were community facilities and development which was acceptable in principle, and this would be the same for villages. There would be other factors to consider but that would be roughly how the plan worked in terms of the LDP.
· Some villages have been removed because, in planning terms, they have fewer facilities and so are less sustainable e.g., harder to put a new house in these villages. Boundaries would be looked at to see if they were still relevant.
Questions:
The Wentlooge representative asked if the Minister’s statement on the protection of the Wentlooge levels and the recent decision to reject the solar farm have an impact on the decisions on the LDP.
The Development and Regeneration Manager confirmed that it would, and this would be a material consideration. The Minister had rejected the Inspector’s report saying the heritage value of the Wentlooge levels held more weight which was a clear steer from the Minister to be considered.
The Marshfield representative stated that they felt that the Gwent levels had very little protection and was looking for something in the LDP that preserved the state of that natural environment. They were also looking for clear guidance from Planning department in terms of place plans for communities. They stated that he had a view on sustainable development within areas such as Marshfield and Castleton which he would also like addressed
In relation to Settlement boundaries the Marshfield representative asked why Castleton and Marshfield were excluded as if you spoke to people there, the area was over developed anyway. There was no bus service, and it was asked why these areas were excluded from the settlement boundary.
The Development and Regeneration Manager stated that the Council’s Planners would disagree slightly with the statement that Gwent levels did not have sufficient protection as the first paragraph of the inspector’s report that approved the Llanwern site listed the constraints; that it was a historical site, had high protection and under normal circumstances an area like this would not be considered however the environmental benefits powering so many homes outweighed these constraints.
The Development and Regeneration Manager explained that it was discussed before about the Gwent Levels being a green belt. However, this was not what a green belt was for. A green belt was there to prevent coalescence of settlements between Newport and Cardiff and Welsh Government policy had stated previously that a renewable energy development could be placed on a green belt.
It was understood that some people felt that there was not enough protection, however one of the farms that was approved recognised that Welsh Government policy at that time was in favour of renewable energy.
There have been discussions previous regarding the Gwent levels and the team was working with the Legacy people to help them to come up with planning arguments and a supplementary planning guidance was also discussed to prevent development. However, a supplementary guidance was just guidance.
Welsh Government were going to look at something separate, but this was unknown currently.
In relation to Place Plans there were none in Newport at present, there were some in the Brecon Beacons etc and the Planning team would be happy to work with community councils to develop these, but they had to be in conformity with the LDP so policies in the LDP could not be disregarded.
Planning Aid Wales was quite keen to engage with community councils on Place Plans and Community councils could speak to them about this.
In relation to boundaries the boundary for Castleton and Marshfield does have a boundary and does have a level of community facility and transport and so development within the boundary would be deemed acceptable in principle in the current LDP.
The Development and Regeneration Manager explained that Lower Machen for example was more isolated with not much transport etc so then they wouldn’t have any further development and then the boundary would be removed.
The Wentlooge representative stated that they were surprised that Peterstone was removed from the current LDP and that St Brides was to be given a boundary as they were alongside each other, had similar structure and they both had limited services.
The Development and Regeneration Manager explained that an analysis looking at what the villages had etc and that they were scored.
The Wentlooge representative stated that St Brides probably had more business activity.
The Senior Planning Policy Officer stated that the villages that were removed and the ones added were from the current LDP from 2015. The team would now be reassessing all of these and the team would be coming out to all the villages to see the people there and to assess what was there.
The Wentlooge representative asked about the National Plan and that this would be a big challenge as there was a lot of protected area and flood zones, so this was quite a challenge diverting planning away from flood areas.