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.

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.

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 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 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).

To show that the consultation was carried out properly, the Council intends to publish the responses to this consultation. The name of the person or organisation who sent the response will be published with the response. As such, we cannot accept anonymous comments.

Information will be held and published in accordance with the Council’s privacy policy: Vale of Glamorgan Council / Cyngor Bro Morgannwg - Privacy (oc2.uk)

The comments received will be considered as formal representations to the Preferred Strategy or other documents under consultation, informing the content of the Deposit Plan. The Council will consider and analyse the comments made and will publish responses to these where appropriate. Comments made on Candidate Sites will inform the detailed assessment process.

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.