Agenda item

(NOTE:

1.     Councillor G.B. Thomas had earlier declared an interest in this item and had been granted dispensation by the Council’s Standards Committee to speak, but not vote on matters relating to farming

2.     Councillors A. Davies and A. Vaughan Owen had earlier declared interests in this item).

The Committee received for consideration the Revised Carmarthenshire Local Development Plan (LDP) 2018-2033 Draft Preferred Strategy identifying the Council’s land use vision, strategic objectives and strategic growth requirements for the County to 2033. It was noted the Strategy had been approved by Council on the 14^th November, 2018 for formal consultation for a minimum statutory period of six weeks, which would commence the week of the 10^th December, 2018 for a period of 8 weeks (to allow for the Christmas and New Year Holiday periods), with a report on the outcome thereof anticipated to be ready for submission to the Committee in March 2019.

The following questions/issues were raised on the strategy:-

·        The Committee’s attention was drawn to a recent meeting of the Council’s Rural Affairs Task Group where discussion had been undertaken on the Strategy with the following three issues having been raised as areas of concern set against the need to protect and rejuvenate rural areas:-

1.     There was no provision in the plan to address difficulties encountered in obtaining planning consent for small dwellings on plots of land, especially small holdings, where the owners had resided in the areas all their lives;

2.     Traditional farm houses were old and small and difficulties were encountered in obtaining planning consent to facilitate their extension in excess of 20-30% of their original footprint. That policy was considered to be restrictive, especially when large new build properties located within settlement areas were granted planning consent;

3.     Existing planning policies made it difficult for the farming community to diversify their business to maximise income potential, for example the provision of camping/tourism facilities

The Forward Planning Manager reminded the Committee that the current document detailed the Council’s land use vision, strategic objectives and strategic growth requirements for the County to 2033 and did not contain specific policies. Those would form part of the Draft Deposit LDP which would detail Development Management Plan Policies and be prepared over the next twelve months as part of the statutory consultation process.

·        References were made to Housing site allocations within the existing LDP and whether some, or all, of those would be included within the new Plan, having regard to proposals to reduce the allocation over the plan period.

The Forward Planning Manager advised that one of the aims of the new Plan would be to ensure its deliverability and, as the current level of housing allocation would reduce, the department would need to critically examine all sites submitted for inclusion. If the owners of those sites were unable to provide evidence based facts to support deliverability, there was a possibility they may not be included.

·        The Committee was reminded that it had established a Task and Finish Group to examine the provision of affordable bungalows within Carmarthenshire. Clarification was sought on how the outcome could inform the review process.

The Forward Planning Manager advised that the timing of the Task and Finish Group was opportune in that consideration was currently being afforded to the content of the Draft Deposit LDP which would incorporate specific development site opportunities. Whilst that would include the allocation of land for housing development purposes, it would not categorise the type of dwellings to be constructed on each site. That would be determined as part of the normal planning process, via the submission of a planning application.

·        Reference was made to the Community Led Option and clarification sought on how that could impact on rural communities.

The Forward Planning Manager advised the Option’s intent was to change the focus of the existing LDP away from the three main urban growth centres (which would still be the focus of the majority of growth) and seek to have greater provision for rural areas by adopting a more balanced and deliverable approach to growth for the whole of Carmarthenshire.

·        Reference was made to the scale of development being undertaken in some parts of the County where the emphasis by developers was to build large housing estates with no thought given to creating communities and providing community facilities such as shops etc. A question was raised as to whether the revised LDP could influence developers to include community facilities within their estates.

The Forward Planning Manager advised that the revised LDP would be used as a vehicle to influence that aim via the introduction of policies to create a ‘sense of place’, promote the Health and Well-being agenda by encouraging access to facilities, open space and a connection to community services such as health facilities. That would be part of a step approach whereby the LDP would introduce policies and the authority, via for example the issue of Supplementary Planning Guidance, would seek to facilitate debate with developers on the design of their developments.

·        In response to a question on the promotion of sustainable developments, the Forward Planning Manager confirmed the revised plan would seek to introduce mechanisms to facilitate their provision, whilst having regard to deliverability and the department would work with developers to achieve that provision.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the Draft Preferred Strategy (and supporting documents) for the Revised Local Development Plan 2018-2033 be endorsed.