HERE WE GO AGAIN…

New plans to build 209 homes on the former paper mill site in Sudbrook have been submitted to Monmouthshire council’s planning department. Harrow Estates plc (who acquired the site in March 2011) now propose to build 209 homes on the 10.7 hectares of brownfield land. Harrow Estates Plc (part of the Redrow Group) which specialises in land acquisition) proposed the development of some 340 houses with new roads and infrastructure, public spaces and landscaping, etc.

After MCC rejected the planning application, Harrow Estates Plc appealed, something that resulted in a planning inquiry. The then Welsh Assembly’s housing and regeneration minister, Carl Sargeant, following a four-day public inquiry, dismissed a subsequent appeal against the decision in 2014. In the new application – the proposed houses will be a mixture of two, three, and four bedroom homes.

Sudbrook incidentally has around 150 houses with the nearest secondary school and shopping area being some 3 kilometres away in Caldicot. Sudbrook, without its paper mill (which closed in 2006) sits in the shadow of the Second Severn Crossing. The village has five buses a day and is about an hour’s walk away from the nearest railway station. 

The scale of the development moved Monmouthshire’s Planning Office to previously object because of the large number of houses in the proposed development. Now don’t get me wrong, there is room for well-planned and integrated (including affordable) housing development even on the increasingly crowded costal fringe of south Monmouthshire.

I question just exactly for whom these proposed houses are for? And how they will be marketed? No doubt (as has happened previously) all sorts of offers will be included with any purchase house (should the planning appeal be granted) including perhaps free bridge tools for a year, etc.  Just exactly what is in for local residents who happen not to work across the Severn Bridges?

This is part of the failure of the Unitary Development Plan based system of planning – which does not fit with devolution as it has developed. Simply building houses in south Monmouthshire, Newport or Torfaen to cash in on the projected housing shortage in the Bristol area is not acceptable; it fails to solve the local housing shortage. Local residents are being effectively priced out of the market as any proposed houses are often priced to maximise profits and effectively marketed and sold in Bristol (as has happened in the past).

It is clear is that we need a sensible properly planned housing strategy, not just for south Monmouthshire and the rest of Gwent, but for all of Wales. Our planning appeal system, historically favours the developers at the expense of local people and local communities. The planning process in Wales is pretty much designed to work in a non-devolved planning environment.

There appears to be no joined up housing plan or housing strategy for Wales, other than to carry on mostly rubber stamping and approving housing developments that bring little benefit to local people and local communities, certainly not affordable housing.

Local democracy has been undermined, as developers (and here we are not just talking about housing) simply appear to carry on appealing until they get their way or get their development retrospectively approved at a higher level. Or the process of land acquisition literally begins before the proposal even goes to inquiry almost as if the decision has already been made.

Local government officers will (and do) advise local councillors not to turn down developments (whatever the grounds) because the developers will simply appeal until the cows come home and that local government just does not have the finances to cope with this situation.

Westminster ministers during the heady days of the Con Dem coalition were in favour of changing the planning rules (in England) to boost house-building to revive the economy. The Labour in Wales Government in Cardiff similarly favoured changing to planning rules in Wales to ‘tilt the balance in favour of economic growth over the environment and social factors’.

Ironically that sentiment was perhaps aimed specifically at overturning those few occasions of late when our Local Authorities have rejected some developments (often at the behest of concerned local residents) rather than simply putting economic needs ahead of economic, environmental benefits and community cohesion.

Over the medium to long term this is fundamentally bad news for those residents of south Monmouthshire, or residents of Torfaen, who have fought the plan and the good citizens of Abergavenny who fought to retain the livestock market. Not to mention the concerned residents of Carmarthen who have worries about the impact of over large housing developments or the residents of Holyhead who opposed a planned new marina development.

Over the years our communities have been ill-served by the planning system, by our local authorities (via the flawed system of Unitary Development Plans) and more recently by our own Labour in Wales Welsh Government in Cardiff. With increasing pressure for development community cohesion is under threat, along with increased demand on overstretched local amenities, our NHS and our green spaces.

Perhaps before constructing large numbers of new houses which fail to tackle local housing needs we should take a long hard look at the number of empty properties – something that remains largely unaddressed in many of our communities. We need a planning system that takes account of local housing needs, the environment (and develops protected green belt land) and looks sustainability at the whole of Wales – and we need it now…

THIS LAND IS NOT FOR SALE

When it comes to Housing Policy (and Planning Policy) in Wales its bad news for local residents, whether they are in those residents of Newport or Torfaen (who have been fighting the plan) or the concerned residents of Carmarthen who are worried about the impact of over large housing developments or the concerned residents of Holyhead who are opposed to new marina development. In Wales we have over the years been ill-served by the planning system, by nominally Local Development Plans and by our local authorities and by our own Government in Cardiff. Well on Saturday....

ABERGAVENNY LIVESTOCK MARKET

A report on the future of Abergavenny livestock market, commissioned by Abergavenny Civic Society, suggests that it would be cheaper to redevelop the existing site than build a new livestock market elsewhere. The report says redevelopment of the existing site would cost about £2.25m, but the council's plan would cost closer to £5m.

Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) has agreed to sell the site, and plans a new market 10 miles (16km) away near Raglan. Back in January, the Labour Welsh government rubber stamped MCC’s request to repeal 150-year-old laws requiring it to provide a market in the town centre. MCC which owns the land, backs plans for the replacement and claims the development of the current town centre market site would help regenerate the town.

Conservative run MCC’s desire to dispose of the livestock market site in Abergavenny (and other assets across the county of Monmouth) to boost the local authorities coffers had come up against the original parliamentary legislation (dating for the 19th century) which give Abergavenny the legal right to hold a market within the town. MCC has long struggled to balance the books for many years having suffered from poor financial settlements over the years, is seeking to dispose of its assets for short term financial gain.

Our planning laws are certainly in need of a serious review, especially when one of the key beneficiaries (Conservative run MCC) ran the whole planning process. MCC was literally the judge, jury, jury selector, executioner and main financial beneficiary. The silence and virtual invisibility of locally elected National Assembly and Westminster representatives (who also coincidentally happen to be Conservatives) on what has been for a number of years a key local issue is worth noting.

The opposition of the loss of the livestock market has never been about nimbyism, people in and around Abergavenny have never been opposed to balanced well thought out development, merely the lack of it. The potentially profound implications of the redevelopment of Abergavenny and the livestock market is one of those cases where there was (and still is) a pressing need for the proposed development to be called in by the Welsh Government and its Ministers.

Yet they have consistently failed to step up to the mark on behalf of the people of Abergavenny. This failure may come down to a combination of poor advice from civil servants to ministers, and an indifference on the part of elected representatives of Labour in Wales towards any other parts of the country that fall outside what they perceive to be their territory.

The new report commissioned by the Abergavenny Civic Society, suggests that re-developing the existing market would cost approximately half of the council's new site. The report states that “improving the market facilities will enable greater agricultural trade which will lead to the introduction of new jobs within the market for local people.” The report also suggests that “increasing parking capacity on non market days will increase the attraction of Abergavenny as a shopping destination which in turn will create jobs in the small retail outlets within the town.”

The report also notes that allowing a new supermarket to develop the site would be "damaging to the community", and that "There are other sites available in the town that could provide for a supermarket without the need to decrease the heritage of the town." Even at this late stage it is not too late for MCC to think again and to take a longer more sustainable view.

WORKING FOR WALES?

Planning permission can be a touchy subject, especially when a development (whether for commercial, housing or energy development) is controversial or the final decision is made against the wishes of local people by a fairly distant and indifferent authority. It's pretty obvious that we lack a coherent national strategic development plan for Wales judging by the half-baked way local unitary development plans have been put together over the years, doing some pretty serious damage to our environment in the process.

News that the developers are set to appeal against a decision by Torfaen council to reject controversial plans for 1,200 homes in Sebastopol, should come as no surprise to most dispassionate observers. The original application was made by a consortium of developers (including Asbri Panning Ltd, Barratt Homes and the Welsh Development Agency) for the housing to be built on farm and woodland near Cwmbran Drive.

Torfaen County Council (wisely in my opinion) rejected the application on a number of different grounds including highways, transport, access and circulation and threat to surrounding green wedges of land. The development consortium has decided to skip negotiations with Torfaen County Council and go straight to an appeal against the planning decision. Back in July, Torfaen County Councillors refused the planning application, but, have until next week to formalise the exact wording of the reasons for refusal of planning consent.

You do have to ask yourself why the Welsh Development Agency, now an arm of the Welsh Government is working against the best interests of the people of Torfaen and seeking to develop the few surviving green wedges between Cwmbran and Pontypool. For the record, our county only has one notional green belt, and that lies between Cardiff and Newport, Scotland has 7 and Northern Ireland has 30 - each has its own policy guidance.

The idea of Green belt worked and worked well, as of 2007, Green belt covered something like 13% of England (around one-and-a-half million hectares) which despite the best efforts of previous Conservative and New Labour Governments it is still relatively well protected both by normal planning controls and against "inappropriate development" within its boundaries. It's worth noting that 'Green belt' is a useful planning tool, which was introduced for London in 1938 but then ended up being rolled out to England as a whole by a government circular in 1955.

We have seen in the south east, especially along the coastal belt and in and around Torfaen, over the last twenty years a spectacular growth in the amount of housing. The fact that a significant percentage of which was never aimed to fulfil pressing local housing needs may be of note, along with the fact that Newport City Council (and no doubt others) have encouraged a growth in housing to fill predicted anticipated gaps in demand for housing in and around a large city across the bridge.

As a result the infrastructure along the coastal belt between Chepstow, Caldicot, Rogiet and Magor is struggling to cope with existing developments and this is well before the projected expansion of housing on and around the former Llanwern site. The north of Newport has now been linked effectively to the south Cwmbran - something that has brought little material benefit or improved quality of life to either urban area.

We often seem to fail to note that once the Green belt or Green wedge is gone it's gone forever, we cannot restore it. The Con Dems in England (in Westminster) are seeking to free up green belt and agricultural land for housing (and other) development. There is a real need for a Welsh equivalent to Green belt, to fringe our urban areas, to help focus out of town and fringe of town developments, not to mention helping to protect rural green spaces between and within some of our urban areas for current and future generations.

MORE BRICKS AND MORTAR

Whilst out on the stump today in Newport West and Newport East (and Blaenau Gwent and Merthyr on Wednesday) there is plenty of evidence that the pledge made by the Plaid driven one Wales Government to construct 6,000 affordable homes has been well and truly achieved being driven through by Jocelyn Davies (AM), Plaid Minister for Housing. While obviously more needs to be done this has been a major step in the right direction, and a clear statement of intention and action to try to solve the problem of affordable housing which continues to affect every part of Wales.

Giving our housing stock a lower carbon footprint and lower energy costs is something that is particularly important, especially when it comes to developing affordable housing and refurbishing existing housing stock. The planning policy (which was brought in 2009) for Wales, with new building regulations lead the way towards zero-carbon buildings and should be touted as an example of getting it right.

Lets be realistic though, while reducing energy costs in particular, as zero-carbon housing will be cheaper and thus more affordable over its entire lifetime - is a good thing. In truth, it does not directly and immediately help the young people in our communities who can't get onto the Housing ladder, but the construction of 6,000 affordable homes in every part of Wales (including Monmouthshire) is a small but significant step in the right direction.

Good intentions may have undue consequences, after May 5th whatever hue of Government is on office in Cardiff, as we continue to either wobble our way further into or out of the recession what may happen is that the Government in Cardiff may come under sustained pressure from the building industry to relax the rules, water them down or delay implementing parts of them.

This certainly happened in 1997 when the New Labour Government almost entirely caved in to pressure from the Building industry, the problem of energy efficient homes or the lack of them in Wales is not something we can merely put off to help bail out a faltering building industry sector (which has made fat profits over the last decade) merely puts off the problems for another day.

Let's be brutally honest, short term thinking will not do and there is a real danger that there will be further pressure for short term budgetary savings made at a time when when government budgets are going to be cut, when there is less money to spare for incentives, grants and initiatives - this will come back to haunt us with a vengeance further down the line.

There is a real need for want of a better phrase joined up thinking, with the banks and the building societies needing to change their lending criteria for truly zero-carbon houses, as logically people paying less for their energy could be able to afford to pay more for their mortgages.

At the end of the day, this is a particularly good example of how the Plaid driven One Wales Government has thought differently and made a significant difference and is a positive step towards helping to solving the housing crisis as well as tackling one of the major issues facing the whole wide world. More of the same please! Think Different, Think Plaid, Vote plaid twice for a better Wales.

SUSTAINABLE LOCAL PROSPERITY

We need a new fresh approach to supporting small town and rural businesses, which are the lifeblood of our small towns and the economy across much of rural and non rural Wales. Many people now recognize that economic and social problems are increasing; what was in effect a historical central Government and local Government indifference to local economies and local economic needs cannot be allowed to continue as it has a damaging impact on our communities.

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has noted that the UK is losing 2,000 local shops every year and that of this continues then by 2015 there will be no independent retailers left in business, something that will hit both consumers and our communities hard as they lose any real choice in the marketplace. Over recent years in the small and not so small towns across Wales, the once particularly rich mix of local shops, small businesses and local suppliers have come under increasing pressure as the usual suspects in the shape of “identikit” chain stores have replicated themselves across our nation's high streets.”

A few years ago The Campaign for the Preservation of Rural England report ‘Rural Roulette’, which focuses on the area around the small town of Saxmundan (in Suffolk) revealed that 81 shops surveyed employed 548 people, with 317 employees working part-time. They discovered that local small businesses were very flexible and able to fit in odd hours, at odd times for their staff and that many employees travelled short distances to their place of work and the majority of employees were women.

The Campaign for the Preservation of Rural England noted the following:

• There was a loss of choice as it becomes harder to buy local foods. 64% of the local shops in Fakenham, Norfolk, and 75% of those in Warminster, Wiltshire, closed when new superstores were built in those towns. Most supermarkets sell very little locally sourced produce, with only 1-2% of their turnover coming from local foods, so, when local shops close, the outlet for local produce disappears with them.

• There was a loss of jobs as local businesses close. Supermarket domination of the retail trade puts the local food infrastructure at risk threatening the viability of local abattoirs, wholesalers and small farms and the associated jobs. A study by the National Retail Planning Forum in 1998 of 93 new superstores found that each one resulted in a net loss of 270 local jobs.

• There was a loss of character, as once distinctive lively town centre's become 'clone towns'. Local shops and services depend on each other for survival. As independent shops close, once vibrant market towns can become retail deserts (or ghost towns). Where shops are taken over by national chains, creeping homogenisation creates clone towns.

• There was a loss of landscape when traditional farming practices are discontinued. River valley meadows, marshes, heaths and pastures need to be grazed by livestock to maintain their appearance and wildlife, but the supply of meat from such animals, often traditional breeds, is often considered too small and intermittent to suit supermarket specifications.

Now this is interesting and in truth pretty obvious if you think about it. The Plaid driven One Wales Government has recognised that an economically active local network of food producers, wholesalers and local retailers help to sustain many other jobs within the local economy. Local businesses provide work for trade’s people such as electricians, builders and plumbers – whereas national chains tend to employ people from outside of the area for renovation and repair work. There other beneficial knock on effects with local employment in banking, accountancy, legal advice, insurance, etc – all of which underpin the viability of our small towns and our communities.

We need to develop more sustained long-term initiatives that are designed to promote new and existing businesses in our small towns, in our communities and rural areas. Our often hard-pressed existing small businesses, local retailers and suppliers provide much-needed jobs for local people and provide a linked network of businesses that use each others services and feed the local economy. Small shops and local retailers provide a significant social network for many local people and passers by and add to the long-term viability and vitality of our communities.

I believe that Plaid in Government will make a real difference to the network of inter connected local economies across the whole of Wales by helping our small local businesses to be economically active and to make a real contribution to the local economy. Plaid can do this by giving them a helping hand and a level playing field to ensure that they are still around and economically active and creating jobs and economic opportunities in the heart of our communities giving our communities a prosperous and sustainable economic future.

DEVELOPING THE VISION

The Plaid driven One Wales National Assembly Government is aiming to take a longer more thought out view when it comes to economic development. One part of the process that is being admirably addressed by Plaid leader and Economy Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones AM ,Deputy First Minister is economic development with “Economic Renewal: A New Direction” which sets out the role the One Wales government should play in providing the best conditions and framework to enable the private sector to grow and flourish.

There are however, two key elements (amongst others) when it comes to creating economic circumstances which will favour the growth and development of small to medium sized local businesses and enterprises. One key element is planning policy especially comes to development (or redevelopment for that matter) our Local Authorities need to develop a realistic and sensible long term economic view when it comes to planning policies to match that being developed by the National Assembly.

To match the economic vision we need a planning process that favours local businesses and small to medium sized enterprises - we need to have much better thought out and far more consistent planning policies for in, out and edge of town retail developments - before our communities are damaged beyond repair. Our Local Authorities are far too often tempted by planning gain as developers offer includes, sweeteners and inducements to ease the passage of proposed developments.

County Council's fear the costs of supermarket applications being taken to appeal if original outline planning permission is refused - they may be advised by officers of the potential costs if a development proposal involving a larger more aggressive retail company goes to appeal - so much for local democracy! Now to make matters worse Local Authorities often fail to have properly researched retailing policies within their development plans.

If retailing needs have not been assessed then it is very difficult for Local Authority planners to refuse any potentially damaging planning applications from developers, and local small businesses and consumers end up playing the price. Every Government since the 1980’s has talked about promoting the vitality and viability of our small market towns, yet, over the last twenty years retail developments have consistently undermined this aim, as local authorities have effectively turned a blind eye to the consequences of out of town or edge of town retail developments on the edge of market towns in England and Wales.

The economic reality has fallen well short of the verbal aspiration, just look at the damage that has been done to Abergavenny, Chepstow and Monmouth within Monmouth constituency and elsewhere in Wales. Can we seriously expect our Local Authorities local regeneration schemes to work, when the once thriving commercial heart of our high streets has already been seriously damaged by an inability to compete on level terms with the increasingly aggressive tactics of supermarkets and retail chains who are chasing an ever larger market share.

More than ever, our planners need to think about the long term economic consequences of planning decisions, to take the longer term view, rather than get fixated on short term financial gains and questionable inducements (why not call them what they are "backhanders") from developers. They need to support local small to medium sized enterprises and support local communities with well developed and well thought out planning policies.

BRICKS AND MORTAR

Giving our housing stock a lower carbon footprint and lower energy costs is something that is particularly important, especially when it comes to developing affordable housing and refurbishing existing housing stock. The planning policy (which was brought in 2009) for Wales, with new building regulations lead the way towards zero-carbon buildings and should be touted as an example of getting it right.

Lets be realistic though, while reducing energy costs in particular, as zero-carbon housing will be cheaper and thus more affordable over its entire lifetime - is a good thing. In truth, it does not directly and immediately help the young people in our communities who can't get onto the Housing ladder, but the construction of 6,000 affordable homes in every part of Wales (including Monmouthshire) is a small but significant step in the right direction.

The pledge to construct 6,000 affordable homes is part of the One Wales Agreement being driven through by Jocelyn Davies (AM), Plaid Minister for Housing is on its way to being honoured, while more needs to be done this is a step in the right direction, a statement of intention and action to try to solve the problem of affordable housing which affects every part of Wales.

Good intentions may have undue consequences, as we wobble or way out of the recession what could also happen is that the Plaid driven one Wales Government may come under sustained pressure from the building industry to relax the rules, water them down or delay implementing parts of them.

This certainly happened in 1997 when the New Labour Government almost entirely caved in to pressure from the Building industry, the problem of energy efficient homes or the lack of them in Wales is not something we can merely put off to help bail out a faltering building industry sector (which has made fat profits over the last decade) merely puts off the problems for another day.

Short term thinking will not do and there is a real danger that there will be pressure for short term budgetary savings made at a time when when government budgets are going to be cut, when there is less money to spare for incentives, grants and initiatives - this will come back to haunt us with a vengeance further down the line.

There is a real need for want of a better phrase joined up thinking, with the banks and the building societies needing to change their lending criteria for truly zero-carbon houses, as logically people paying less for their energy could be able to afford to pay more for their mortgages.

At the end of the day, this is a particularly good example of how the Plaid driven One Wales Government has thought differently and made a significant difference and is a positive step towards helping to solving the housing crisis as well as tackling one of the major issues facing the whole wide world. More of the same please! Think Different, Think Plaid.

WHEN THE WIND BLOWS...

On Friday 9th January, the Westminster Government revealed the nine locations chosen to develop off-shore wind energy. Two of the nine chosen locations for developing off-shore wind farms lie between Anglesey and the Isle of Man, and between the south Wales coast and Devon and Cornwall.

These proposed developments are going to be on a much larger more ambitious scale than anything previously attempted. According to the UK Westminster Government, these schemes as well as trying to solve the on-going problem of energy security, will also be a lot cleaner in terms of emissions.

The Bristol Channel zone 1.5GW windfarm will be called the Atlantic Array and will be developed by RWE Npower Renewables, part of RWE Innogy. For the record the current rules governing planning that relate to energy developments ensure that energy schemes over 50 MW's lie under the remit of Westminster rather than the National Assembly.

Two other proposed development sites lie off Scotland, where things are different. There is a distinct possibility that Scotland (as Alex Salmond believes) may well have hit the energy jackpot for the second time. Originally with North Sea oil and now with Scotland's abundance of potential wind and water power.

While some onshore wind farms have been and are likely to remain controversial - off-shore may well prove to be a whole different ball game. With the renewable energy industry in Scotlandis now turning its attention to offshore wind farms, as well as the technology that may harness and deliver the power of the tides and the waves.

Scotland's renewable energy resources are concentrated in the north of the country, while most Scots live in the south, hence the hugely controversy around the new Beauly to Denny power line. One significant difference between Wales and Scotland is the fact that the discussion and the decision is being made in Scotland - we in Wales, despite our National Assembly might well find that similar decisions are made in Whitehall and Westminster not in Wales.

One thing is true, it comes down to a matter of scale, major renewable energy projects can and do have major impacts on our land and seascapes. When it comes to the environmental benefits of large-scale renewable power generation they will always have to be judged against their own environmental impact.

One thing is certain, the Scots have set themselves some tough climate change targets and the current and future Scottish governments will have many more tough decisions to make in the years ahead if those targets are to be met. It is only fair and just that we in Wales should have the powers to make similar decisions about our future energy needs rather than merely ending up dealing with a combination of either decisions made in Westminster or the consequences of Westminster's indifference.

TIME TO SORT OUT THE PLANNING PROCESS

The One Wales National Assembly Government and our Local Authorities need to develop a long term economic view when it comes to planning policies, we need to have much better thought out and far more consistent planning policies for in, out and edge of town retail developments -before our communities are damaged beyond repair.

Our Local Authorities are often tempted by planning gain as developers offer includes, sweeteners and inducements to ease the passage of proposed developments. County Council’s fear the costs of supermarket applications being taken to appeal if initial planning permission is refused. To make matters worse Local Authorities often fail to have properly researched retailing policies within their development plans.

If retailing needs have not been assessed then it is very difficult for Local Authority planners to refuse any potentially damaging planning applications from developers, and local small businesses and consumers end up playing the price.

Every Government since the 1980’s has talked about promoting the vitality and viability of our small market towns, yet, over the last twenty years retail developments have consistently undermined this aim, as local authorities have effectively turned a blind eye to the consequences of out of town or edge of town retail developments on the edge of market towns in England and Wales. The economic reality has fallen well short of the verbal aspiration, just look at the damage that has been done to Abergavenny, Chepstow and Monmouth within Monmouth constituency and elsewhere in Wales.

Can we seriously expect our Local Authorities local regeneration schemes to work, when the once thriving commercial heart of our high streets has already been seriously damaged by an inability to compete on level terms with the increasingly aggressive tactics of supermarkets and retail chains who are chasing an ever larger market share.

More than ever, our planners need to think about the long term economic consequences of planning decisions, to take the longer term view, rather than get fixated on short term financial gains and questionable inducements (why not call them what they are "backhanders") from developers.