On Thursday 25 March Members of Cardiff Council voted to abandon the draft Local Development Plan for the city. The Plan was intended to guide all new development in the city until 2021. However, Inspectors appointed by the Welsh Assembly Government to review the draft Plan raised serious concerns about a number of key aspects, bringing into doubt whether the Plan would ever be able to proceed to adoption.

The concerns raised relate to housing, employment land, flood risk, waste and transport. However, the greatest attention has been focused on the delivery and mix of housing development. Inspectors raised serious reservations about the target number of dwellings and the realism of whether the actual demand could genuinely be met on brownfield sites without the need for allocation of further greenfield sites across the city.

One can't help but have sympathy for the council. It formulated the Plan at the peak of the residential market, when high density residential blocks seemingly appeared overnight on previously developed sites throughout Cardiff and the market for apartment living seemed boundless. In such circumstances, and having seen the successful transformation of Cardiff Bay, it is easy to see how the council took the view that apartments on brownfield sites could meet much of the future housing demand.

However, the downturn has meant that existing and proposed housing sites have been re-assessed to reflect dramatically reduced land values. Fewer units are being delivered on sites than the Council expected. This means that more land is needed to meet the target housing numbers. Meeting this demand entirely on brownfield sites can no longer be supported. The outcome is the failure of the Plan’s housing growth strategy.

This is not an issue unique to Cardiff, councils throughout Wales have developed similar strategies to drive forward the regeneration of their communities and comply with the growing emphasis on sustainable development. The public reaction against the loss of greenfield sites has also had a huge influence on the approach adopted.  Many councillors continue to argue that the Plan should reflect the voice of the people, rather than the will of the Assembly. However, the criticism of the council from developers has been that the Plan was simply not flexible enough to respond to change.

Once the Plan review is formally abandoned, the Council will immediately agree a timetable for the preparation of a new Plan.  However, adoption of this new Plan may be several years away. In the short term, planning applications will be assessed against the 1996 Local Plan which is the only adopted Plan. However, the Local Plan was only intended to run until 2001 and the sites identified for housing in that Plan are largely developed already. 

In the short term this may mean that the development strategy for the city is determined not by forward planning of sites, but in response to applications and appeals. 

For developers this presents a window of opportunity. In the absence of a strong development plan the Council will be less able to resist proposals for housing and other uses in previously unfavoured locations, including greenfield sites. 

In the longer term, informed by the comments from the Inspectors, the Council will develop a new Plan.  A new evidence base will need to be prepared and the public and stakeholders will be re-consulted on a new strategy. Developers may also get the opportunity to re-submit sites for inclusion in the revised Plan, although this is to be confirmed.

The council acknowledges that the new Plan will need to be more flexible in order to adapt to changing circumstances. It has also accepted that the new Plan will need to include an element of greenfield housing land. However, it highlights that the approach adopted has secured cross party political support and wider backing from the community. As such, the council has stated that it is disappointed that the Welsh Assembly Government has raised concerns about the delivery of the strategy, and maintain that they will carry forward many of the existing core objectives. All of this serves to highlight that it is extremely difficult to strike a balance between a plan which meets future growth needs in a sustainable manner whilst paying regard to the views of the community.

Undoubtedly a lot of time and money has been spent by the council, landowners and developers in getting the Plan this far. Many will criticise the rigid approach adopted by the council which meant it could not adapt to the huge change in the economic climate experienced during the protracted plan making process.  However, it is surely better that the Plan reflects the reality of the current economic climate and plans for that accordingly, than one which is simply not achievable. As such, perhaps pausing for thought and re-assessing the way forward should be embraced.   

Gareth Hooper is an associate partner at Cardiff planning consultancy DPP. He can be reached by email: Gareth.Hooper@dppllp.com.