Gwrthwynebu
Ail Gynllun Datblygu Lleol Adneuo Diwygiedig Sir Gaerfyrddin
ID sylw: 5901
Derbyniwyd: 12/04/2023
Ymatebydd: Cllr. Ken Howell
Cydymffurfio â’r gyfraith? Heb nodi
Cadarn? Heb nodi
Observations:
• Availability of land dictates the potential for Exception Sites.
• While Exception Sites provide the potential for Affordable Housing adjoining Local Development boundaries, this may not be possible in many rural villages.
• The topography of our area does not always permit development outside existing settlements and steep gradients make affordable construction unviable.
• Where land may be available, other factors may not meet requirements such as Highways, SAB assessments etc. thus limiting the potential for development.
• Non-availability of land in and around Defined and Non-Defined Rural Settlements results in no housing
to meet local needs.
• There are natural boundaries between communities which dictate social interaction. A nearby community, across a river or motorway, may be more alien to a local individual than a town twenty miles further afield.
• There is no provision at all for market housing in many rural settlements. If you don’t qualify for Local Needs, or there is no Local Needs capacity in your community – you can’t live there.
• The size, scale and design of Affordable Housing cannot accommodate a growing family, especially where children are not all of the same gender and vary in age.
• “Exceptional Circumstances” may not be so exceptional. Some quite ordinary circumstances exclude local people from qualifying for Local Need.
• Young families wishing to return to their area to bring up their children and who have owned a home in another area will not qualify for Affordable Housing, but cannot afford open market housing.
• There is no guidance on what constitutes an “exception”. The policy accommodates nuclear families with 2.4 children. There is no provision for Blended Families whose needs are more varied and extensive.
CONSIDERATIONS:
1. To acknowledge that Exception Sites are at the discretion of local landowners, access/highways
restrictions, SAB requirements and other limiting factors.
2. Where no Exception Sites can be identified, to exercise flexibility in considering alternative sites which may deviate from the current permitted sites.
3. Where particular individual “locality” needs are identified, to consider applications for non affordable housing development in the interest of the individual, the family and the community.
4. To consider the definition of “local” in the context of the individual and the community rather than by a radius of concentric miles.
5. To assess the needs of growing families when calculating the size, scale and design of Affordable
Housing in order to provide long-term security and a decent quality of life.
6. To acknowledge the housing aspirations of young families in rural areas as a material planning consideration.
Amend Plan
Whilst I fully agree with the proposals submitted by my colleague and fellow Councillor Carys Jones, I wish to submit that the allocation proposed for Drefach Felindre is limited and inadequate for the next ten years. In particular, the allocation of only three houses on the Waugilwen road should be doubled to six, which would accommodate future expansion of the village.
Submissions by Carys Jones - dealt with in another representation
The Revised LDP makes provision for the development of affordable housing within the county. This would include commuted sum contributions from sites of less than 10, and on-site contributions on sites of more than 10 dwellings. The Plan also provides an opportunity to develop exception sites and local need dwellings in Tiers 1-3 through Policy AHOM2, whilst Policy HOM3 provides a policy framework for development in Rural Villages. The Revised LDP supports, and seeks to maximise the delivery of affordable home.
The Local Need definition is highlighted within the Glossary of the Revised LDP, and provides a framework to support the development of such dwellings.