Plans for thousands of new homes take major step forward

A council development plan which could see thousands of new homes built over the next decade has taken a major step forward.

Vale of Glamorgan Council’s cabinet members met this week to discuss the next steps for its replacement local development plan (RLDP).

A local development plan is used by councils to determine which areas of land can be developed for housing and employment purposes over a certain period of time.

Cabinet members gave the go ahead to a consultation on the council’s draft preferred option for its RLDP which will commence in December.

The public consultation was initially expected to commence in April 2023, but this was pushed back as further information was required on sites which could be put forward for development to ensure their deliverability.

If the council ultimately goes along with it’s preferred strategy for the RLDP, it could mean the delivery of 8,769 homes in the county by 2036.

Existing housing supply

Many of these homes can be delivered through an existing housing supply of 6,060 units made up of existing completions, granted planning permissions, currently adopted LDP allocation sites and an assumption for windfall sites.

The draft preferred strategy also makes provision for 168 net hectares of employment land which has the potential to support 5,338 jobs over the plan period.

The council’s current LDP, which runs from 2011 to 2026, earmarked a total of 48 sites for development with the intention of delivering 8,525 homes over the plan period.

As part of the preferred strategy, the council have gone with a growth option based on build rates over the 10-year period from 2011 to 2021.

This medium growth rate would mean a requirement of 526 homes to be delivered every year until 2036.

Other growth options which were reviewed included a low growth option which would have meant 150 homes per year, and a high growth option which would have meant 700 homes per year.

A review of the council’s adopted LDP carried out in 2021 found that a full revision of the plan should take place due to changes in national and regional policy.

Following the eight week public consultation on the draft preferred strategy, the council will commence work on the deposit RLDP with a view to undertaking another six week consultation on this between February and March 2025.

If all goes according to plan, the council expects to submit its RLDP to the Welsh Government in November 2025 and the adoption of the plan could take place between August and September 2026.