Frequently Asked Questions

The Vale of Glamorgan Council is preparing a Replacement Local Development Plan (RLDP). The RLDP will cover the period 2021–2036 and will replace the adopted LDP 2011–2026. The RLDP will set out where and how new development will take place in the Vale up to 2036. It will include site allocations for different land uses, such as housing and employment, and policies to help tackle the declared climate and nature emergencies, safeguard the environment, and secure high-quality design. When adopted by the Council, the RLDP will be used as a basis for determining planning applications. The RLDP is being prepared in accordance with a revised delivery agreement.

The RLDP is prepared by the Local Planning Authority. There are a number of steps to preparing the Plan and different stages of consultation and involving people in its preparation. Before starting work on the LDP, we produced a Delivery Agreement which sets out the LDP’s timetable and when and how people could get involved. During the preparation of the LDP, we will build an evidence base to inform and support the Plan.

A public consultation was undertaken between December 2023 and February 2024 on the Preferred Strategy for the RLDP. The Preferred Strategy provides the strategic direction for the development and use of land in the Vale of Glamorgan over the RLDP period (2021 to 2036) and identifies how much sustainable growth is needed and where this growth will broadly be located.

The RLDP Preferred Strategy was considered by full Council in September 2024 where it was agreed that the strategy should form the basis of the Deposit RLDP, the next stage in plan preparation.  As part of the evidence base for the Deposit Plan, further work is being undertaken to understand and address the site-specific constraints for each site. This consultation forms part of the evidence.

Barry is the largest and most sustainable settlement in the Vale of Glamorgan and is also the area with the highest need for affordable housing. There is therefore a need for Barry to accommodate a level of new housing development that is appropriate for its status as a ‘key settlement’ within the LDP.

The Preferred Strategy identifies a 71.1 Ha site to the North East of Barry, between Argae Lane and the Barry Docks Link Road. At the time of the preparation of the Preferred Strategy it was considered that the site could accommodate up to 1,500 dwellings, with 900 of these dwellings being delivered in the plan period up to 2036. Due to its scale, it was included within the Preferred Strategy as a key site.

However, in order for sites to be included as part of the next stage of the process, the Deposit Plan, it must be demonstrated that sites are deliverable i.e. there are no barriers to development that would stop them from coming forward within the plan period. There are currently concerns around the deliverability of the site to the North East of Barry and its ability to deliver the anticipated benefits in respect of placemaking principles, and therefore it has been necessary to reconsider its inclusion as a key site within the RLDP.   Given the issues described above, it is therefore proposed not to include Land at North East Barry as an allocation in the Deposit Plan.

Three alternative sites have been identified to replace the key site of North East Barry. This is comprised of one alternative key site and two new sites:

• Key site at North West Barry (376 dwellings);
• Hayes Lane, The Bendricks (70 dwellings); and
• Neptune Road, Barry Waterfront (40 dwellings).

As part of the candidate site assessment process, Land to the North West of Barry was initially considered a suitable site for development (around 180 dwellings).  However, a larger area encompassing this site and extending south and west (potentially accommodating 376 units) is now proposed as a key site in the RLDP, replacing the previously considered North East Barry location.  This shift is due to the larger site's potential to deliver more affordable housing, contribute to infrastructure improvements, and generate greater contributions to sustainable transport and community facilities.

The sites at Hayes Lane and Neptune Road are both currently allocated for other uses in the adopted LDP.  The candidate site assessment at Preferred Strategy stage indicated that they would only be considered further if they were no longer required for their allocated uses.  Following a review of their suitability for other uses, it is now considered that these sites should be identified for housing, in addition to North West Barry. Both are proposed for affordable housing. 

At this stage, no additional housing is proposed in the Vale of Glamorgan further to those which were proposed at the consultation for the Preferred Strategy.  Further information of this can be found at the following web address:

Vale of Glamorgan Council / Cyngor Bro Morgannwg - Stage 2 Candidate Site Register

While the Deposit Plan will identify additional smaller sites, these will be subject to consultation through the Deposit Plan consultation process at a later date.

As this is a non-statutory consultation, the public consultation will run for 4 weeks between Monday 16th June 2025 and Monday 14th July 2025.  

The Council will also be holding an in-person drop-in consultation event will also be held at Millwood Bowling Club on Tuesday 24^th June 2025, from 15:00 – 19:00.  The event will be supported by the site promoters of Land at North West Barry, to gather public feedback on the site masterplan and development challenges and constraints.

While all comments received by the Council will be summarised in a consultation report at a later date, individual comments will remain confidential, and no personal details will be publicised.  

Comments must be submitted in writing, and anonymous comments cannot be accepted. Comments are welcomed in both Welsh and English.

The consultation proposed on Housing Growth in Barry is a targeted non-statutory consultation on growth specifically in Barry which will help inform the preparation of the Deposit Plan. It will allow interested parties the same opportunity to comment on site specific placemaking for the proposed new key site at North West Barry as was afforded on the other key sites during the non-statutory consultation held in Autumn 2024. As it is non-statutory it is proposed that the consultation be held for 4 weeks between mid-June and mid-July. This reflects the timescales for the site-specific placemaking consultation.

Following the completion of this consultation, the matters raised will be considered and a report of consultation will be prepared, which will be reported as part of the Deposit Plan anticipated in Autumn 2025.

Once the consultation closes the Council will carefully consider the responses we receive. An Initial Consultation Report will be prepared, which will set out who was consulted, the main issues raised and how these comments will influence the next stage of plan preparation – the Deposit RLDP. The Initial Consultation Report will be considered by full Council in late 2024.

Following consultation on the Deposit RLDP, the Council will also consider all comments received and preparations will be made for the plan to be submitted to the Welsh Government, who will arrange for an independent Planning Inspector to be appointed to conduct an examination in public.

Following the examination, the Inspector will issue a report recommending required changes to the LDP. If the Inspector considers the Plan is fundamentally unsound it will not be recommended for adoption. The conclusions reached by the Inspector will be binding and unless the Welsh Government intervenes, the Council must accept the changes and adopt the LDP as amended. Once adopted, the Replacement LDP will replace the existing LDP adopted in 2017 and will become the framework against which decisions on planning applications are made.

The Preferred Strategy is the first formal public consultation stage in the RLDP preparation process. At this stage we are setting the broad direction of the RLDP. The Preferred Strategy sets out a Vision for the place we want the Vale of Glamorgan to be in 2036, issues and objectives, and broad spatial strategy; including the growth in population, housing and employment and how this growth will be spread across the Vale. The purpose of consulting on a Preferred Strategy is to build consensus on some of these aspects of the RLDP and to enable interested parties to provide feedback on these prior to the preparation of the full draft plan, called the Deposit Plan.

The Preferred Strategy sets out a Vision for the place we want the Vale of Glamorgan to be in 2036, issues and objectives, and broad spatial strategy; including the growth in population, housing and employment and how this growth will be spread across the Vale. The Preferred Strategy can be viewed in full on our consultation portal: Vale of Glamorgan Council / Cyngor Bro Morgannwg - Consultations (oc2.uk). Alternatively, an easy read summary version of the document has also been drafted.

In short, the Preferred Strategy identifies a Sustainable Growth Strategy for the RLDP, which comprises of six key elements as follows:      

• Delivering a sustainable level of housing and employment growth supported by appropriate infrastructure to accord with the Vale’s position within the Cardiff Capital Region.
• Aligning locations for new housing, employment, services and facilities to reduce the need to travel.
• Focusing development in locations that are well served by existing and proposed rail stations as part of the South Wales Metro and in areas with good bus links.
•  Allowing for small scale affordable housing led development in settlements outside the Strategic Growth Area at a scale proportionate to the size of settlement.
• Supporting the role of Cardiff airport as a strategic gateway for international connectivity.
• Allowing for regeneration opportunities, including at Aberthaw and Barry Docks

The Preferred Strategy identifies that 168ha of employment land is required across 67.8ha to enable the delivery of 5,338 jobs. It also identifies that 8,679 new homes will be required to deliver a housing requirement of 7,890 dwellings over the plan period (including an allowance of 10%). This would include a target of 2000 affordable homes.

The Preferred Strategy will not be allocating new sites, and sites can only be allocated for development through a development (such as the final RLDP). The Preferred Strategy does, however, identify five new key housing sites to be allocated in the RLDP as well as sites allocated within the adopted LDP that are proposed to be ‘rolled forward’ into the RLDP and ‘committed’ sites (sites with planning permission). The proposed housing sites can be viewed in policy SP4 of the Preferred Strategy.  The Preferred Strategy also identifies land for major and local employment and employment regeneration opportunity areas, which are set out under Policy SP13. Additional housing sites and sites for other land uses will be identified within the Deposit RLDP: Vale of Glamorgan Council / Cyngor Bro Morgannwg - Consultations (oc2.uk).

The existing LDP was adopted in 2017 and covers a 15-year timeframe up to 2026. The adopted LDP will cease to have effect at the end of 2026 and therefore it is essential this is replaced to safeguard against unacceptable development. The RLDP will provide a development plan, and the certainty this provides to communities and developers for a further 10 years, up to 2036.

The Preferred Strategy is not the final RLDP and as such is does not include all the policies, land use proposals or infrastructure that will be required to support development. Instead, it is the first formal public consultation stage of the production of the RLDP and sets out its broad direction. The additional detail will be set out in the Deposit RLDP which will be subject to public consultation in early 2025.

Consultation on the Preferred Strategy for the Vale of Glamorgan Council’s Replacement Local Development Plan (RLDP), along with the Initial Integrated Sustainability Appraisal and Habitats Regulations Assessment has now ended. The consultation was live for 10 weeks, from Wednesday 6^th December 2023 to Wednesday 14^th February 2024.

The consultation documents can be found on the consultation portal: Vale of Glamorgan Council / Cyngor Bro Morgannwg - Consultations (oc2.uk).