Preferred Strategy

1. Introduction

1.1 The Council is responsible for preparing and keeping up-to-date the Local Development Plan (LDP)^[1]. The LDP sets out planning policies and allocates sites for different types of development. The Council is also responsible for development management which involves the processing and determination of planning applications with the LDP guiding and managing development by providing the foundation for consistent and clear decision making. In meeting the above responsibilities we are in the process of preparing a Revised LDP. Once adopted we will use this LDP for assessing planning applications through until 2033 but will continue to monitor and review its content to ensure it remains relevant and is working as intended.

1.2 The LDP has a direct and meaningful effect on the people and communities of Carmarthenshire and visitors alike. It will shape the future development in the County and its environmental qualities, influencing it economically and socially. The LDP will respond to the needs of a growing and regionally important economy making provision for new jobs, homes, infrastructure and community facilities. It also ensures the well-being of its communities is maintained, and the impacts of the development and use of land are managed sustainably. It will guide funding and investment programmes, other plans and strategies, communities and landowners whilst providing for the enhancement and protection of our environment and environmental qualities. In doing so, it provides a measure of certainty and confidence about what kind of development will, and will not, be permitted and at what locations during the Plan period.

1.3 The part of Carmarthenshire which is within the Brecon Beacons National Park has its own separate development plan.

1.4 In ensuring that the current adopted LDP remains up to date, a review was undertaken into its content with the outcomes published in the Review Report^[2]. This review, whilst finding that many aspects of the adopted LDP are functioning effectively, also identified that there were issues in relation to parts of the Plan and its strategy. The Review Report showed that parts of this strategy were not being delivered as intended with both the level and spatial distribution of growth requiring further consideration. It concluded that we start the preparation of a revised LDP to replace the existing adopted Plan. The Revised LDP 2018 – 2033 will replace the current adopted Plan on adoption which is scheduled for December 2021.