Agenda item

The Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Regulation Housing presented this report.

Newport City Council had already agreed to start work on a replacement Local Development Plan and as colleagues may be aware, the process to adopt a new development plan took at least 3.5 years.  There were many stages and tasks to complete before adoption was possible, but a really important part of the process was stakeholder engagement and consultation.  We needed to know how people saw our City developing and functioning over the course of the next 15 years and the report before Cabinet outlined the most recent stage of engagement undertaken.

The Local Development Plan, like all strategies, needed a Vision.  It needed a clear sense of direction to get us to the Newport we want to be in 2036. But in order to develop a Vision we must understand what our current context was and also take into account what changed since we adopted the last plan in 2015. We know a lot has changed.  Climate change and active travel were not a focus of the existing plan but they were very important to us now.  Similarly, whilst air quality and flood risk were an integral part of the current plan, there had been significant policy changes since 2015 which needed to be properly reflected in a new plan.  All of these important issues were reflected in the proposed vision and objectives, but it was important that we asked stakeholders and residents the question, have we missed anything?

From January to March this year we worked with Planning Aid Wales to undertake a number of stakeholder engagement events with groups such as Community Councils, Developers and Environmental groups. We also held two public engagement events in our neighbourhood hubs across the city to ensure that we captured as many views as possible.  As a result, 33 responses were received on our proposed Vision, Issues and Objectives, all of which were set out in detail in appendix A of your report.  Planning Aid Wales also provided a really well presented feedback report which could also be found within appendix B of the report. People had taken the time to respond and share their views and it was important to acknowledge and thank everyone for taking the time and effort to participate in this process.

Overall, the response was positive and many recognised our City’s potential as a national growth area. Other comments focussed on more detailed changes to wording but overall it was felt that people agreed with our level of ambition, flexibility and scope. However minor changes were made to reflect the feedback and these are set out for you in Appendix C.

The Council was still at the start of the replacement plan process and Cabinet would receive a number of updates and reports as each stage progresses. If Cabinet agreed to the Vision and Objectives as set out in the report, this will enable progression to the next stage which was the growth options stage. This was a very important stage and where the Council would start to develop more of the detail on where local growth should be, not only for housing but also for employment land.  This was timely given the recent census data which showed Newport having the highest percentage of population increase in Wales since 2011.  Hopefully Cabinet would be updated on this stage later this year, in the meantime, the Cabinet Member recommended that Cabinet approved the proposed Vision and Objectives.

Comments of Cabinet Members:

§  Deputy Leader agreed with the Cabinet Members presentation and considered that Newport was a gateway city into Wales and it was important that residents had ownership of this vision and they and their families could be proud of this city.  The focus was also on carbon reduction and sustainability was fundamental to all of this, which was an excellent vision going forward.

§  Councillor Batrouni highlighted the importance of Appendix C, which showed that the Council did make changes, such as air and water quality and emphasis on ecology within Newport. Whilst this was hard, it was key for financing the economy and ecology.

§  Councillor Harvey supported Councillor Clarke on his presentation and fully supported the report.

Decision:

Cabinet noted the consultation comments received on the Draft Vision, Issues and Objectives and endorsed the proposed responses.