01/12/21

The second stage of public consultation on Cardiff's Replacement Local Development Plan (LDP) starts today, asking residents for their views on a variety of options on housing and jobs growth for the city up to 2036.

Earlier this year Cardiff Council asked residents, a wide range of organisations, groups and public bodies, for their views on the draft vision and objectives for its replacement Local Development Plan and 1,215 responses were received to the on-line questionnaire.

Following these comments, revised versions of the LDP vision and objectives were produced and presented to the full Council for approval, before being added to the documentation.

The next stage of the process is a 10-week consultation focusing on housing and jobs growth. This will take place through a virtual consultation room -https://cardiffldp.consultation.ai-allowing residents to give their views until February 8^th, along with a variety of planned focus groups to amplify the voices of those that don't usually take part in these kinds of consultation.

The public consultation on housing and jobs growth will assess a range of issues, including:

• Any need for new homes to cater for the ongoing growth in the city's population;
• Any need to meet the urgent requirement for affordable housing;
• Any requirement for new homes to accommodate people and families moving to Cardiff for new jobs;
• The ongoing aspirations of the city to be an economic driver for the South East Wales Region;
• To provide jobs to meet the increase in the city's population up until 2036; and,
• Reduce unemployment and tackle inequalities across the city.

Cardiff Council currently has an adopted LDP in place to ensure that the growth of the city can be effectively managed. This ensures that proposed developments are in the right locations and meet local and national policy objectives.

The adopted LDP has ensured that the city already has an additional 15,400 homes in the pipeline that haven't yet been built. All of these new homes are effectively ‘land banked' and will be brought forward into the new LDP for the city. Not all land with planning permission gets built, so adjustments have been made to allow for this.

The first part of the consultation looks at three different scenarios put forward for discussion, on how the city could grow and the number of properties that would need to be built to accommodate this growth up to 2036.

• Option A:This option could deliver 19,000 new homes and 30,000 new jobs. With the housing that has already been secured through the current LDP, this option would require the need to find sites for an additional2,140homes. Alongside the number of homes that have already been ‘land banked', the building rate required for this option would be 1,267 new homes per year. This option is based on the council's economic target to deliver 1,600 new jobs each year.
• Option B:This could deliver 24,000 new homes and 32,000 new jobs and would require the new LDP to find sites for an additional7,640homes, at a rate of building 1,600 new homes each year. This option is modelled to deliver more affordable housing to meet the increasing demand of 7,700 applicants that are currently on the housing list, with 514 of these applicants currently homeless.
• Option C:This option could deliver 30,500 new homes and 43,000 new jobs and would require sites to build an additional14,790new homes, at a building rate of 2,033 each year. This scenario uses the 2014 population and housing growth projections which are used in the current adopted LDP. This option would help meet the need of affordable housing in the city, while providing more opportunity to regenerate mixed-use developments and providing a greater range of choice and supply of housing sites available.

The second part of the consultation will look at 8 different options put forward for discussion, on how the levels of growth can be accommodated in the city. All of the options that will be considered are based on 3 key principles. These are:

• To support Cardiff as the key driver for economic growth in the South East Wales Region;
• Ensuring that sustainable growth and placemaking principles are at the core of the decision-making process;
• Ensure that the plan is in line with the aims of the One Planet Strategy to ensure that the council and the city become carbon neutral by 2030.

Cllr Caro Wild, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport, said: "The replacement LDP is going to shape the look and feel of Cardiff for years to come, so it was really important for us to hear as wide a range of views as possible. At this stage of the process, we are accessing a number of different scenarios on the possible levels of growth in Cardiff up to 2036, and the need for houses to be built to accommodate this growth.

"It is important that people understand the consequences of the options, as most growth scenarios will have pros and cons with regard to important issues such as land for employment opportunities, the impact on the environment, addressing housing need, supporting the delivery of community and transport infrastructure, and how many truly affordable homes that could be provided."

The 8 options that are explored as part of the consultation are:

• Option 1:Further extending the existing strategic sites identified in the current LDP which are on greenfield sites. This option looks at the current strategic sites and the possibilities for future growth, closely interlinked with the planned improvements to public transport, new schools and community facilities. Due to the lower costs of developing on greenfield sites, this option could deliver more affordable homes and a wider range and choice of types of housing, including family housing.
• Option 2:Intensifying development in urban areas only on brownfield sites. This option looks to maximise the land available in urban locations, which would involve higher density of housing in some areas. While this option does protect greenfield sites in the countryside, due to the higher costs to develop this land, less affordable housing could be delivered in this option, and there could be less choice of housing sites and different types of accommodation available.
• Option 3:Renewal and regeneration based on mixed use brownfield sites. This option looks to maximise growth and development purely in urban areas and not in the countryside. This would also involve higher density housing in appropriate areas, with the opportunity for housing to be closely interlinked with new public transport improvements. This option supports a mixed economy, balancing jobs with housing growth and would protect future development on greenfield sites. Unfortunately focussing purely on brownfield sites means that there could be less affordable housing available due to the higher costs to develop this land, along with less choice of types of housing available.
• Option 4:This option would focus the growth around the existing local and district centres, in line with the ‘city of villages' concept. Similar to option 2, this would be in urban locations maximising the use of brownfield sites, providing more mixed-use developments with improved walking and cycling infrastructure to create '20-minute neighbourhoods'. Although this option could protect greenfield sites in the countryside, less affordable housing or variety of housing would be delivered once again, due to the increased costs on developers.
• Option 5:Growth based around transport links in urban areas. This option would focus the growth around urban areas with good existing transport links, ensuring that housing that is built is best placed to meet the needs of existing and future communities, linking directly to a sustainable transport network. As this option focusses purely on brownfield sites, less affordable housing or variety of housing could be delivered as part of this option, due to the increased costs of developing in urban areas.
• Option 6: Focussing growth around the ‘transit growth corridors' - which could closely align proposed housing with the METRO transport improvements up to North West Cardiff and beyond, closely interlinking with the delivery of public transport improvements, such as new rail routes and new train stations. As this is a greenfield site option, affordable housing levels would be higher, as well as giving a wider range and choice of housing available.
• Option 7: This option could focus on greenfield sites that are not already identified as Strategic Sites in the current adopted LDP. This option could look at land that has been put forward by landowners for development on new greenfield sites on the outskirts of the city's boundary.
• Option 8: This option could look at a combination of greenfield sites and brownfield sites that are both in urban areas and in the countryside. This option could strike the balance between the benefits of both, by utilising credible brownfield sites for high density mixed development uses, as well as providing more affordable housing and choices on the types of housing on greenfield sites.

Cllr Wild added: "At this stage of the process, all of the options that are presented in the consultation are potential options, rather than preferred options. The Preferred Strategy could combine a number of these options together. All of the feedback from the public will be considered, alongside further technical work, which will help the council prepare the Preferred Strategy that will be consulted on with the public in Autumn 2022."