Following rising concern across Abergavenny about what Monmouthsire County Council (MCC) is proposing for the town in its emerging Local Development Plan, the Chronicle has asked SOUL, Save Our Unique Landscape, for its reaction to the council’s LDP Strategy Document.

SOUL convener, David Haswell has responded:

Last month, as part of its consultation on the Revised Local Development Plan, 2022-2033, MCC published its strategy for housing and employment growth across the county.

In headline terms MCC is proposing to permit the building of approximately 8,000 new homes on 412 hectares, and to allocate 42 hectares of land for employment growth, in support of about 4700 new jobs.

It has agreed this plan for consultation despite the recent prediction by Welsh Goverment that Monmouthshire will only require 1000 new homes over the same period.

For clarity, MCC is planning to allow the building of housing at a rate eight times that suggested by Welsh Government, and to allocate land for housing which will be ten times the provision for employment.

With this degree of imbalance are we surprised that Abergavenny has become a dormitory town, and should we not be rightly concerned that things could get worse.? At the same time MCC is considering options to build on the edge of The Brecon Beacons National Park. on land outside the town boundary, when other more suitable sites remain unconsidered.

How did we get into this regrettable position?

In the course of last year’s consultation on the Local Development Plan ( LDP ) The Abergavenny Civic Society, Abergavenny Transition Town and SOUL separately expressed concern about the scale of the housing led strategy and the lack of planning for jobs.

It would seem that our concerns fell on deaf ears.

In over 500 pages of documents there are no specific proposals for employment sites, simply a statement that the distribution of employment sites will follow the housing and be proportional to the increased allocation.

Those who have read the background papers on housing targets suggest that the justifications are unconvincing.

For the record, If MCC was to achieve its target of 8000 new dwellings, it would be at rates 20 per cent higher than achieved in the last ten years.

Whilst this may be physically achievable, SOUL would argue that it would not be welcomed or desirable.

As regards strategy the LDP report states that its proposals are led by two considerations - demographics and the need for affordable housing.

Given previously expressed concerns SOUL would have expected employment to be in the mix! What a missed opportunity.

So what specifically is proposed for Abergavenny?

In terms of spatial distribution the council is suggesting that 57 per cent of the provision will be in the primary settlements of Abergavenny, Monmouth and Chepstow, with the remainder in the secondary settlements and Severnside, small towns south of the M4.

Abergavenny is expected to receive 17 per cent of the total, equivalent to 1360 new houses and 7.15 hectares for employment growth to support 800 new jobs.

As regards consultation MCC has identified four large sites for growth in Abergavenny which, by virtue of their size, are located on the edges of the Abergavenny / Llanfoist settlement. MCC wants to know which, if any, of these four sites we would prefer or accept for development for both housing and employment.

It has set an unexplained threshold of 8 hectares for deciding which sites to consult on.

What can be done?

Together with the Abergavenny Civic Society. SOUL is proposing a buffer zone across the northern boundary of the town, recognizing the special landscape which exists on the slopes of the iconic Sugar Loaf Mountain, effectively ruling out sites north of the Mardy and Chapel Farm Fields.

Last year, in a response to questions at a meeting of the full council, assurances were given that work on proposals for Green Wedges across the county would begin.

In over 500 pages of LDP proposals and narrative we find that a year later this work is yet to commence.

In response to the Welsh Government population predictions for Monmouthshire, SOUL has written to MCC, suggesting that the council should pause, reflect and reconsider its questionable demographic led strategy.

Our hope was that a different but realistic target could be agreed, understood and supported by the community.

There appears to be no appetite for this course of action at County Hall.

Some have suggested that we face an avoidable demographics disaster.

The coronavirus has brought a temporary suspension to the consultation excercise and we await details of a revised programme.

Meanwhile citizens of Abergavenny will have more time to consider which, if any, of the four sites on offer they are prepared to support for development, whether they agree with the level of growth proposed, and how much they value the special landscape in which we live.

They tell us that in a post virus world nothing will be the same.

This is the moment to ensure that the emerging LDP for Abergavenny is the vision that we want and deserve.

Individual representations to MCC on the LDP proposals should be communicated to [email protected] your local County Councilor.

Anyone wishing to receive a regular bulletin from SOUL or wishing to join the campaign should email [email protected]

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