CARDIFF LOCAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN

As an active participant in the resumed Public Inquiry in July 2011, RAG has been sent an advanced copy of the intended Local Development Plan (LDP) Consultation Document which will be formally issued on the 1^st of November, and will accept submissions until the 14^th of December.

Comments and suggestions on the formal Consultation Document will be invited at that time, and a full RAG newsletter will be issued to guide formal responses. No comments or submissions will be accepted by the Council on this advanced draft.

Members will recall that last autumn Cardiff Council held a number of public meetings on certain strategic elements of the emerging LDP which, when adopted, will guide the development of the City until 2026.

Many people attended and tabled comments particularly on the future growth of Cardiff and the projection for future housing need. The Welsh Assembly Government was insisting on a massive and unrealistic estimate of future population growth which was being opposed by the Council. This advanced draft now puts forward a lower, more statistically justified growth projection, more closely aligned with the Council’s own figures.

The Advanced Working Draft has no official status at present but gives a good indication of what the Consultation Draft will contain. It is very encouraging to see a number of very clear, unequivocal policy statements emerging from the Council’s deliberations.

All landowners and potential developers have over the past few years submitted suggestions to the planners about their desired development potential for their land; these are known as ‘candidate sites’.

In preparing this draft LDP Cardiff Council has examined all candidate sites, weighed them against other planning criteria, including constraints provided by nature and heritage conservation protection, and crucially these sites do not include any development of the Nant Fawr Corridor strategic open space wedge which includes Lisvane and Llanishen Reservoirs. Indeed, the draft is very specific in this regard.

It is clear that the Council’s thinking in relation to the LDP perpetuates and reinforces the previous policies which have successfully protected Cardiff’s precious open amenity spaces from developers for very many years.

It is a certainty that WDP will strenuously oppose some of the LDP proposals at the consultation stage and try to reverse the protection policies put forward. RAG will give its formal support to the consultation draft in November.

The working draft document is available to view or download from the Council’s LDP team website, but if you would like to see the key comments and policies relating to protecting the Nant Fawr corridor please contact RAG’s secretary at mary.corin@googlemail.com.