Category Archives: Built Environment

This sub-group looks at housing, housing improvements, renewable energy, planning and the Local Development Plan (LDP)

Help us to find Local Nature and Energy Solutions

We are holding a public event at 6pm on Thursday 9th May to co-create our next project – and we’d love to see you there!

This event aims to gather your views, ideas, and priorities, igniting action from vision on themes including water management, biodiversity habitats, community energy and plastic free Newport. 

Using Newport’s Green Infrastructure Plan and Newport Town Council’s environmental agenda as a starting point, the interactive and dynamic format of the evening will allow us to ask our community to help form our next project.

It will be a fun and interactive evening, an opportunity to think about what could make a real difference in Newport and surrounding areas, and to make new connections. A bar and snacks will be available. 

NAEG has a long history of taking impactful measures, starting with community collection of plastic and cans for recycling, before kerbside services were provided by Pembrokeshire County Council. 

Our most recent project was Newport For Nature, a project that planted 1500 trees, gathered data on biodiversity, and held a series of workshops and talks to encourage biodiversity in our gardens.

Now, we are looking for more people who would like to get involved to help identify and implement a next project. With the backing of key documents like the Green Infrastructure Plan and access to funding sources, combined with the increasing accountability of companies like Dwr Cymru Welsh Water, NAEG only requires the proactive involvement of our community to make meaningful changes.

The ‘Local Nature and Energy Solutions in Newport and the surrounding area’ event is on Thursday 9th May at 6pm at Newport Memorial Hall. We hope to see many of you there!

Documents relating to the Local Development Plan II enquiry

Letter to Town Council

The Built Environment sub-group have agreed to write to the Town Council:

  • to seek clarity on future building land in Newport
  • to offer our support for the place plan process, and suggest some guiding principles.
  • to state our all new sites should only provide housing that was needed for people to live here as their principal residence, in terms of number of homes, design, cost and environmental qualities, and
  • to make a joint approach with us to the owners/agents of both the one housing allocation, and of the remaining business park land which is no longer protected as employment land, in the emerging Replacement LDP – to explore how housing developed will be suitable to meet the needs of people who live here.

Please click the following link to view / download the draft letter.

LDP 2010 Table “Allocations” (BDOG 05)

demonstrated that the proposal would not unduly overburden existing community infrastructure provision. The affordable housing target for the Plan period is 530 residential units.

4.208 Planning guidance on affordable housing prepared jointly with Pembrokeshire County Council will require updating.

Table 7. Allocations of Housing Sites (see Proposals Map and Appendix 2) [154]

Location Proposals Map ID Site Name Area Hectare Residential Units % Affordable Units Affordable Housing Provision expected
Tenby HA377 Brynhir 6.35 168 60 101
Tenby HA723 former cottageHospital Site 0.17 10 60 6
Tenby HA724 Rectory Car Park 0.94 50 60 30
Tenby HA727 West of Narberth Road 1.14 25 60 15
Tenby HA752 Butts Field Car park, Tenby 0.94 80 60 48
Tenby HA760 Reservoir Site, Tenby 0.33 12 60 7
Crymych HA750 Depot Site 0.37 15 50 8
Newport HA825 North of Feidr Eglwys 1.50 20 70 14
St David’s HA385 North of Twr-y- Felin 0.92 13 (current permission for 0 affordable/ renewal 50%)
St David’s HA737 St Davids West Glasfryn Road 3.80 90 50 45
St David’s HA789 Adj Ysgol Bro Dewi, Nun Street 0.56 10 50 5
Broad Haven HA734 South of Driftwood Close 0.66 8 50 4
Dale HA382 Castle Way 0.55 12 80 10
Dinas Cross HA387 Opposite Bay View Terrace 0.25 12 100 12
Herbrandston HA732 East of Herbrandston Hall 0.38 12 50 6
Jameston HA436 North of Landway Farm 0.32 7 (current permission for 1 affordable/ renewal 50%)
Jameston HA730 Opposite Bush 1.69 35 50 18

(emphasis added)

[154] Please see Background Papers “Site Criteria” and Housing Background Paper for more information. Only sites for 5 or more dwellings are allocated. Please also see Table 3 Mixed Sites for housing and affordable housing contributions.

PEMBROKESHIRE COAST NATIONAL PARK LOCAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN 76

Inspector Juniper’s Report & Recommendations on HA825 (BDOG 04)

“BDOG 04” PCNPA LDP – Inspector’s Report (Mr.Juniper) – 01/09/2010

Housing Allocations – Newport

” 3.33 Despite Newport’s status, conferred by Policy 2, as a Tier 3 Local Centre, there remain some doubts about 3 of the 4 housing allocations. The site for the mixed use allocation at Feidr Pen y Bont (MA232) is the subject of a planning permission for an industrial development[18] and so the 6 live/work units[19] may not be [-p.14] provided. However, development has not commenced and it seems to me reasonable to allow the allocation to stand, to be reconsidered at the first review of the Plan if the permitted scheme proceeds.

3.34 Two other housing allocations, however, form part of an active and evidently well used caravan park off Parrog Road (HA220 and HA609). It was clear from the proprietors’ stance at the hearings that there is little prospect of this business altering its mode of operation and removing pitches to accommodate the proposed housing. I have come to the view that these allocations are not soundly based and I recommend that they should be deleted.

3.35 Of the alternative sites put forward for my consideration, those within the defined Centre Boundary on the Proposals Map seem to me to be suitable for development provided the broader criteria of the LDP are met although there are some access difficulties which would be likely to restrict their availability. Those outside the Centre Boundary are all in locations where the impact of built development on the wider landscape would be unacceptable.

3.36 I looked carefully, however, at the allocated site on land north of Feidr Eglwys (HA825) and the land immediately to the north, Alternative Sites reference Alt1056 and Alt1057. The western part of Alt1056 as depicted on the relevant Alternative Sites Proposals Map – AltC23 Newport/Trefdraeth – is within the existing churchyard and this has been acknowledged as a drafting error. The rest of this land, with the safeguards set out in the NPA’s analysis of HA825, would be suitable for an expansion of that site. It is reasonably well screened from local viewpoints and in the more distant prospect of the town from the north any built development here would be seen within the context of the surrounding housing and against the background of the steeply rising ground around the Castle. Although the NPA’s site analysis exercise did not specifically include this land, all important aspects are either satisfactorily covered in the investigation into HA825 or could be dealt with during the processing of any subsequent planning application.

3.37 In coming to this view I am conscious that some additional traffic would need to use the somewhat constricted road network in the immediate vicinity. The site is well related to all the facilities in the centre of the town, however, and many trips to access these would be likely to be made by foot, not least because of the parking constraints in the town centre. There was limited evidence about accidents in this part of the road network and that which was available was largely anecdotal, which limits the weight I can give it.

3.38 The highway authority has acknowledged that the hedgebank along the southern edge of the site would need to be set back to achieve [-p.15] proper safety standards and I am content that the techniques to achieve this successfully are now well established. With improved width and visibility at the junction thus provided, the highway authority considers that a total of about 20 dwellings could be safely accessed on HA825 and a small site, Alt824, to the south of Feidr Eglwys. Since the latter site is only likely to be suitable for one or two dwellings I consider that an expanded HA825 could accommodate up to 20 units. The 8 additional units would still not fully compensate in the assessment of overall provision for the loss of the 15 proposed for HA220 and HA609, but I see no prospect of the whole of the desirable provision being achieved in Newport, given its environmental constraints. I therefore recommend that site HA825 be expanded accordingly.

Recommendation 6

Delete sites HA220 and HA609 from the Proposals Map, Inset C23 and from Table 7; adjust the figure in sub-para (b) of Policy 32 from 210 to 195 and remove the entry for site HA220 from Appendix 2.

Recommendation 7
Expand Site HA825 on Proposals Map Inset C23 to take in the areas of Sites Alt1056 and Alt1057, except for that part of Alt1056 which falls within the existing churchyard and adjust Table 7 to allow for 20 residential units of which 14 would be affordable housing. The site area in column 4 and the relevant totals will also need to be amended.

[18] Document No. Exam 36
[19] Table 3, following Policy 30 of the Deposit LDP

(emphasis added)

LDP Deposit Plan (2009) Appendix 2 (BDOG 02)

BDOG 02
Appendix 2 Allocations

Extract from Development Plan –

Site Reference Location Commentary
HA825 North of Feidr Eglwys, Newport Development of this site will need to respect the character and setting of the Conservation Area and church and additional and significant planting within the site area will be required. The density of development will need to limited to 12 dwellings to ensure that it does not harm the character of the area and to meet access constraints. It is not known whether there is an archaeological resource on site which would further constrain the development of this site. Geophysical survey and trial trenching are recommended by Dyfed Archaeological Trust prior to submitting an application in order to ascertain the type and extent of the resource.

PEMBROKESHIRE COAST NATIONAL PARK LOCAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN (emphasis added)