Council opens consultation on development plan for 2000 homes

Twm Owen – Local Democracy Reporter

A plan setting out new employment sites and land for 2,000 homes will be open for public consultation after the narrowest of votes.

Monmouthshire County Council agreed by just one vote to move to the next stage of asking the public for its views on the draft plan that will require 50 per cent of all new homes over the next nine years are affordable.

Among the proposals are 770 new homes at what has been called Caldicot East, north of the neighbouring village of Portskewett, and 500 on the opposite side of the Heads of the Valleys road to Abergavenny.

Affordable

There would also be 270 new homes in Monmouth and 146 in Chepstow with other smaller sites identified across Monmouthshire.

Paul Griffiths, the council’s deputy leader who is responsible for the plan, told councillors, it will guide development until at least 2033,and “protect” 95 per cent of land in the county.

He said: “The plan protects all the land not allocated for development. It is as much a local protection plan as it is a local development plan.”

Vital 

The Labour councillor said building new homes, and ensuring they are affordable with 33 per cent for social rent and 17 per cent dubbed “intermediate housing” sold through schemes such as shared equity, and identifying new employment sites is vital for Monmouthshire’s economy and addressing its aging population.

He said the county’s working age population has declined while those of retirement age has increased and said: “This is unsustainable”.

The leader of the council’s Conservative opposition Cllr Richard John  and independent group leader, Frances Taylor, both said the plan should be further refined, but Cllr Griffiths said the council needed to stick to the timetable.

He warned: “If we don’t go to consultation now will be in breach of our delivery agreement, and have to turn the clock back three years.”

Consultation

During the debate Conservative councillors from the Chepstow area raised concerns at a lack of infrastructure, from roads to GP services, to accommodate new housing but the area’s Labour councillors backed moving to consultation.

Labour Cllr Armand Watts said the plan was an “attempt” to address Monmouthshire’s demographic challenges and said: “Before we all drop of the edge, including some of the people in this room, I recommend we support this. It’s not perfect but it’s an attempt.”

Some councillors feared the 50 per cent affordable housing policy wouldn’t be achieved.

Conservative Fay Bromfield said it would push up the price of market housing and Tony Kear, a banker who works with house builders, said: “I’ve tested that with my customers, they would not build in Monmouthshire”.

Independent Simon Howarth said he feared 50 per cent was “too high” and risked no developers building in the area while concerns were also raised the demand would mean there would be less cash for community improvements.

Draft

Cllr Griffiths said the 50 per cent proposal has been independently assessed and considered viable and he said developers are aware of it and put sites forward.

The plan would also allow the planning committee “for the first time” to reject applications if developers claim they cannot meet affordability requirements.

A consultation on the strategy for the plan was held two years ago. The draft, or deposit, plan will now be presented to the public who can comment on it from November 4 to December 16.

In July next year the council could be asked to submit the plan for approval to the Welsh Government. An independent inspector will consider the public’s comments and assess wether the plan is “sound”.

If approved the council will be able to adopt the plan from May 2026

It was agreed to put the deposit plan to consultation with 21 members, including the Green and Green Independent councillors, voting in favour and 20 members including the Conservatives and some independents voting against.