Cardiff’s Local Development Plan takes another important step next week when the City of Cardiff Council Cabinet discusses it ahead of it being forwarded to Full Council for approval and submission to the Welsh Government.
The Council does not currently have a LDP which makes it difficult to challenge how developments across the city take place, but with an approved plan in place it will help to ensure greater planning control so Cardiff continues to be a great place to live and work, striving towards our aim of becoming Europe’s most liveable capital city.
The plan has been widely consulted upon with the most recent consultation taking place earlier this year. Hundreds of organisations, bodies and individuals have made comments, generating 1,652 representations.
After carefully considering the issues raised, there are considered to be no compelling reasons to propose any changes to ensure the LDP is sound. In fact emerging evidence relating to transportation, master planning and infrastructure planning has already helped to address many of the concerns raised by the representations.
Cllr Ramesh Patel, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Strategic Planning, said: “It is crucial that the local authority adopts a plan to ensure proposed development takes place in a controlled way which can be managed to increase prosperity in Cardiff and the wider region.
“The LDP gives us an opportunity to shape how we want the city to look in the future, creating homes and communities which we clearly need, in a way which is sustainable and forward-thinking, instead of ad hoc as happens now.
“The fact that we haven’t had an updated plan since 1996 is unacceptable, the previous administration had this opportunity but this was missed as their plan had to be withdrawn due to the Planning Inspector’s significant concerns. As a result we’ve lost planning appeals and seen some developments created we would rather not have happened.
“The current administration has already shown strong leadership by taking control of the situation and has delivered the plan in line with the proposed timeline. The plan allows us to set the framework to deliver new infrastructure such as sustainable transport solutions, schools, health centres and other community facilities. It responds to the need for growth, real social and economic needs of providing an adequate future supply of new homes and jobs while managing the delivery of the new sites to protect our best environmental assets and bring forward new infrastructure.
“The Council is actively working with key stakeholders, such as the major developers, Design Commission for Wales, Cardiff Civic Society and the Welsh Government to deliver outstanding sustainable new developments, based on modern efficient transport infrastructure to further our aim to become Europe’s most liveable capital city.”
