Pre-Deposit Plan (Revised Preferred Strategy)
3 Key Land Use Issues Comment
3.1 A development plan is an intervention tool in the development market, influencing where development can and cannot go. In a scenario where the market is delivering the development that an area needs there would be no need for a development plan. The role of the 2RLDP is, therefore, to address the land use issues facing the County Borough through a policy framework that will deliver the desired outcomes.
3.2 An understanding of the issues facing the County Borough is an essential element of the preparation of the 2RLDP and the policy framework will need to be developed to address these issues. An outline of the key issues is set out below to provide context for the Revised Preferred Strategy. A more comprehensive review of the issues is set out in the Review Report. The key issues for the 2RLDP to address are:
National and Regional Issues Comment
NR1: Climate change is a global issue that will require action at all levels. The 2RLDP will need to address the issues causing climate change and ensure climate change resilience and mitigation are fundamental elements in the design and layout of all new development.
NR2: The impacts of Covid-19, Brexit and the war in Ukraine have had significant adverse impacts upon the country's economy through business closures and supply chain issues. The Revised Preferred Strategy seeks economic growth through the plan period so the 2RLDP will need to directly address these issues.
NR3: The need to decarbonise is a national priority and the 2RLDP will need to proactively promote zero carbon energy generation in combination with reducing energy consumption and increasing energy efficiency.
NR4: Wales has a housing shortage as a result of the under-provision of housebuilding over an extended period of time. The 2RLDP will need to promote and deliver both market and affordable housing in places where people want to live in order to provide people with the homes they want to live in.
NR5: The South East Wales Metro will help deliver an integrated public transport network across the region. The 2RLDP will need to give effect to locally applicable Metro priorities in land-use terms and acting as a mechanism for the delivery of specific proposals.
NR6: The Sustainable Communities for Learning programme is a significant, long-term capital investment programme to create a generation of 21st century schools, involving collaborative working between Welsh Government and local authorities. The 2RLDP will enable the delivery of specific proposals within the County Borough, in land-use terms.
NR7: The County Borough is at the heart of the national growth area identified in Future Wales. The 2RLDP will need to accommodate growth at a level commensurate to the national growth area designation.
Environmental Issues Comment
EN1: As part of the climate change emergency addressing decarbonisation is a key driver for delivering change. The Council has declared a 'climate emergency' which will involve a number of measures, including:
- Promoting and delivering renewable energy generation schemes;
- Promoting climate change adaptation and mitigation through development schemes;
- Embracing sustainable drainage and reducing flood risk;
- Promoting a significant modal shift to sustainable transport (rail, bus, cycling and walking);
- Providing electric charging facilities for electric vehicles.
EN2: The 2RLDP will also need to address air quality issues in the County Borough, particularly those arising from transport related activity, which has led to 2 Air Quality Management Areas being identified.
EN3: The 2RLDP will need to maximise the benefits arising from the South Wales Metro investment and should promote further improvements and additions to the transport network;
EN4: The 2RLDP will need to ensure the maintenance and enhancement of blue and green infrastructure is a fundamental element in the design of all development. In addition, the 2RLDP will need to protect and enhance:
- Areas of ecological and geological importance;
- Areas of high landscape value;
- Important areas of open space.
EN5: The 2RLDP will look to utilise brownfield land before greenfield land in the first instance, though this does not mean that greenfield development should not take place where insufficient viable and deliverable brownfield sites are available to meet the County Borough requirements.
EN6: The County Borough contains a number of priority habitats that support ecological connectivity. The 2RLDP should support and enhance this network and maximise opportunities for biodiversity net gain and the improvement of ecological links.
Economic Issues Comment
EC1: The County Borough has relatively high levels of economic inactivity, low levels of educational attainment and pockets of deprivation as evidenced by the 2019 WIMD. The 2RLDP should seek address these issues to promote economic activity and generate economic growth.
EC2: The rate of employment land take-up has been low over the course of the present plan period and there is a significant shortage of available employment land in the Caerphilly Basin to enable companies to expand and grow. The 2RLDP will need to ensure that employment sites are deliverable, and that appropriate employment land is made available in the Caerphilly Basin.
EC3: A high proportion of the workforce remains employed in manufacturing, which is a sector that is projected to decline over the plan period. The 2RLDP will need to promote diversification in its sectoral employment and build on its current strengths.
EC4: The Welsh Government projections project that the economic population within the County Borough will decrease significantly over the plan period. The 2RLDP will need to ensure sufficient land is identified to generate the types and numbers of jobs that will attract people to work and live in the County Borough.
EC5: Town and retail centres provide a significant level of employment within the County Borough and the 2RLDP will need to maximise the opportunities for employment within these centres in order to deliver the economic benefit.
EC6: Tourism is an important part of the economy in terms of ongoing, long-term growth, as well as being a key factor in developing the identity of the County Borough. The 2RLDP will seek to continue to develop the County Borough's range of tourist attractions and integrate these with complementary services and facilities as a cohesive tourist offer.
EC7: The County Borough continues to have a high rate of out-commuting. This will need to be addressed by a co-ordinated approach between increasing employment opportunities in the County Borough and improving accessibility between major residential areas and employment centres, as well as accommodating homeworking which could have significant impacts on travel needs.
EC8: Digital connectivity will continue to play an important role in enabling agile working and facilitating economic growth. The 2RLDP will promote and support the delivery of digital and communications infrastructure to meet the needs of users and providers for the plan period.
Social Issues Comment
SO1: Natural change has been a key element in the County Borough's growth throughout its history. However, the Welsh Government projections project that the number of deaths will outnumber the number of births, and this will result in negative natural change throughout the plan period. Consequently, the 2RLDP will need to make proactively attract people into the County Borough to deliver growth in accordance with the Revised Preferred Strategy.
SO2: The County Borough has a relatively high level of limiting long-term illness and low life expectancy. The 2RLDP should seek to give effect, insofar as it is able, to measures which contribute to addressing this, in land-use terms.
SO3: Changes in the retail environment mean that the 2RLDP will need to be highly flexible to respond to the changing needs of town and retail centres and almost certainly a diversification of uses across these centres will be required.
SO4: The 2RLDP will need to continue to protect and improve the provision of formal urban natural greenspace and address issues in the provision of sport and recreational space across the County Borough to promote the well-being of residents.
SO5: The 2RLDP will need to facilitate the delivery of community infrastructure provision. Many of the services and facilities required to be delivered are the responsibility of bodies other than the Council and, as such, the Council will need to work with other public sector bodies to identify the land required to deliver the necessary facilities and infrastructure required.
SO6: Underpinning development with sound placemaking principles is the way to deliver sustainable development and resilient communities. The 2RLDP will need to ensure that the policy framework is underpinned by placemaking principles.
SO7: The County Borough includes areas of high deprivation. The 2RLDP will need to facilitate measures that will alleviate deprivation through land allocations and a flexible policy framework.
Cultural Issues Comment
CU1: The 2RLDP should seek to give effect, insofar as it is able, to land use measures that foster the development and use of the Welsh language.
CU2: The 2RLDP should consider new development within the context of the variety of heritage assets, and their setting, that exist within the County Borough.
CU3: Heritage assets are often found in the middle of the County Borough's town and retail centres in areas generally at risk from flooding and climate change impacts. The 2RLDP should promote resilience and adaptation in the heritage assets of the County Borough.
CU4: There are a large number of heritage assets that through adaptive reuse could provide a valuable housing and mixed-use economic resource. The 2RLDP should maximise opportunities for adaptive reuse of built heritage assets to assist in the regeneration of town centres and increase the potential for rehabilitation of empty sites for housing and economic regeneration.
CU5: Placemaking has the potential to significantly reinforce the cultural and historic environment throughout the County Borough. The 2RLDP should ensure that it maximises these opportunities.
CU6: The heritage of the County Borough is a significant generator for the tourist economy in the County Borough. The 2RLDP should be flexible to enable the enhancement and broadening of heritage tourism, whilst protecting the heritage assets that enable it to contribute to the economy.
