Review of the Vale's "Local Development Plan" FoE's FINAL RESPONSE

https://www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk/Documents/Living/Planning/Policy/RLDP/Draft-Review-Report-2021.pdf

REVIEW OF THE VALE OF GLAMORGAN LDP STRATEGY

They Say:

1. To promote development opportunities in Barry and the South East Zone

2. The St. Athan area to be a key development opportunity

3. Cardiff Airport a focus for transport and employment investment

4. Other sustainable settlements to accommodate further housing and associated development

They attach “also” to   ## Climate Emergency and ## Nature Emergency

6.4.3 measures to address the climate and nature emergencies will also be key matters for the Replacement LDP

These as fundamental, not 'also' add-ons.                         Climate Change Wales Regs. 2021

Responses submitted 31 January

        “Emergency” means priority for climate and nature: freeze or drop past plans and projects

Instead of above list, we'd substitute

1. Priority to the climate crisis and the nature crisis; cut back development and save natural sites

2. Restrict housing sites to rail/bus linked + small developments within settlements for local need

3. Invest in flood mitigation +SuDS, sewage treatment and sustainable transport for resilient communities.

4. Plan to downgrade the Airport-St Athan enterprise zone (6.3.19) ; cut out the Model farm development

5. Boost local shops and facilities and rejuvenate town centre to reduce the needs for travel.

6. No developments in the coastal strip apart from facilities that need a coastal location

7. Promote tourist opportunities and facilities, restore beaches to Blue Flag standards

The LDP has to integrate responses to the climate and nature emergencies (CC Wales Regs.21

Reconstructing our economy has to cover planting trees and woodland; also re-wilding opportunities rather than “development” opportunities. Reconstruction has to cover our settlements that will flood when hit by rainstorms enhanced by climate change, to implement surface water drainage and to retrofit SuDS schemes. Reconstruction has to put in adequate sewerage and sewage treatment plant for the house-building allowed without foul sewage capacity. Reconstructing our economy includes expanding tourism and informal recreation on the Vale coast, to replace unsustainable holidaying abroad. Development as associated with Rhoose airport that does not integrate responses to climate and nature emergencies is blocked,

The LDP's previous promotion of growth has to be dropped. So much of what is important to our well-being lies outside of the purview of statistics. The misguided policies pursuing growth did not integrate climate and nature emergencies, nor did they assess wellbeing.

Cut back unsustainable Housing expansion

Review these stalled sites at Darren Farm and Cosmeston - two stalled major sites - for compliance with policies in the plan, as well as reviewing sites that have not progressed,as 6.3.15

Cosmeston – car-dependent, far from facilities; in the coastal zone; toxic landfill; access is vulnerable to floods; first planned to be Green Wedge; archaelogical find/listed farmhouse

Darren Farm – cut back as limited market demand; too big for sustainable development and Cowbridge to absorb

Hayes Wood – remote from facilities; not part of a sustainable settlement; poor bus services

Llandough Hill – land vulnerable to flooding from soakways in developments above which discharge rapidly through the permeable rock (limestone). Past permissions of soakaways and discharge into Llandough stream ('drain') have to be corrected. 

 Llandough is not a sustainable settlement – this would be a car-borne extension of Cardiff.

Assess Sewage Treatment capacity for the purposes of new development

Dwr Cymru assurances cannot be accepted as they are unlawfully discharging untreated sewage to rivers and the sea

The assurances with the 2009 UV installation that they'd meet Blue-flag bathing water standards at Barry beaches has proved untrue. This is important for tourism, so must be reviewed.

Review Sewage Treatment capacity

Widely known that many sewage works are discharging untreated sewage frequently, at times when weather conditions are not "exceptional" and therefore unlawfully.  The VoG cannot claim not to know, as effluent from Cog Moors pollutes Barry Island waters

# summertime sampling is showing Whitmore Bay does not comply with Blue Flag standard

# data disclosed by DCWW shows untreated discharge ~80 times a year, more frequently in the winter months

#  the UV disinfection is switched off during the winter months, so Whitmore Bay sea bacteria are likely to be many times worse than summertime. 

The LDP should assess the excess flow over the treatment capacity and conclude there is no leeway for additional sewage in the system as at present.  Accepting assurances from DCWW that they can take the sewage from further connections amounts to collusion with criminals who take payments for dealing with your waste then dis[pose of it unlawfully.  It breaches the duty of care to accept assurances when you have reason to believe their disposal is (in part) unlawful.

As the Vale wants to promote tourism and leisure use of the sea, the LDP should get assurances on 

# use of UV disinfection at all times of the year when immersion activities take place

# specify DCWW has to invest in further treatment capacity to relieve overloading of Cog Moors STW and meet the Blue Flag standard as was intended when the UV plant was installed (2009) and now year-round when immersion sports take place.

In terms of new connections to the public sewer:

# require all new developments in the Cog Moors area (incl. the Kenson-Weycock and Cadoxton catchments in the Vale) to pay towards new treatment works and delay all over a threshold (say 10 dwellings) pending commissioning of the further sewage capacity

# seek that Cardiff Council freezes the Plas Dwr (Cardiff west) development until further sewage capacity is commissioned, or alternatively requires the developers to pay towards new sewage treatment plant.

Tighten spec for Attenuation Ponds

Capacity has been planned for average rainfall run-off storage

# settlement/attenuation pond to take run-off; if it discharges to Welsh Water  or to private drain, it had  to be covered in a S.106 Condition at this outline stage

# sizing the attenuation pond to take average annual run-off causes flooding during storms'  It has to have sufficient capacity for the maximum planned storms

Review the Cardiff Airport & Gateway Development Zone of 44.75 hectares of B1, B2 and B8 business park and associated car parking.

 speculative growth, no 'need' demonstrated, contrary to sustainable development

•  related to completely over-optimistic airport projections; put it on hold pending a clearer future for the failing airport

•  now 'need' under climate emergency to cut back air transport and related development

• infrastructure capacity is wanting -   roads, sewage....

• need under nature emergency to save this valuable countryside, farmed sustainably with care for nature.

Plan for expansion of the tourism sector, giving more jobs; valuing our coast (excluding development on it), and regaining our Blue flags (correcting the deficit in sewage treatment).

Enable use of Barry Dock for water sports (incl immersion sports) and cockle-farming by ending the routine sewer discharges into it (150 times a year)

Create a blue-green Country Park with conservation area and history trail on RWE's Aberthaw site (east of the ash-mound, plus south alongside the coastal path)

Proper appraisal of flooding with planning for more severe rainstorms under Climate Change

Flooding is due to housing and roadway run-off discharged to sewer (most of Penarth). In Dinas Powys to the river Cadoxton too. In Llandough to the Eastbrook. Barry has many old CSOs. In Sully, Penarth and Barry, surface water drainage systems need building and enhancing to take rainstorm run-off into the sea.

The Section 19 report on the 23 Dec 2020 floods was inadequate for LDP planning

## wrongly omitted flooding at east Llandough and lower Penarth

## lower Penarth is part of the Cadoxton River catchment, but completely wrongly modelled in NRW flood mapping – this assumes run-off into the Sully Brook, with flooding onto the Glamorganshire golf course. In fact little reaches the Brook, but goes into the sewer – the 23 Dec rainstorm overloaded the sewer and flooded Castle Ave and Lavernock Rd, then Cosmeston car-park and lake.

## found the roadway surface water pipe in Sully (discharge down Swanbridge Rd to sea) was inadequate; probably the housing surface water pipe (over sports field) is also inadequate, but no upgrades were promised.

## accepted that the 23 Dec. rainstorm was well below the 'extreme' but considered capacity only relative to this one, not planning for the 'extreme' rainstorms plus the 30-40% “climate uplift”.

The LDP needs to contain an honest appraisal, relative to the uplifted extreme storms

The S19 report fails to include retrospective SuDS schemes, despite policy for these. The LDP needs to map out the older housing areas which still rely on combined sewer systems, as preliminary to assessing practicality and priority for adding surface water drains.

The LDP needs to include policy for the widest spectrum of SuDS schemes, for individual householders, businesses, and public buildings, as well as highways.

These should include

## holding pond/lake for Llandough Hospital and car-park run-off, with controlled discharge to the Eastbrook

## holding pond/lake for surface drainage waters from Castle Estate etc, (west Penarth) in Cosmeston Park

## retrofit surface water collection systems discharging to sea in lower Penarth, where the existing combined sewer (Brockhill Rise CSO) overflows frequently (over 100x per year) much more than only during the legally acceptable 'extreme' weather.

## expand capacity of Sully surface water discharges to sea.

## incentivise house-owners to install soakaways for drainage from rooves and patios.

## Require planning consent for new hardstanding (over 2 sq m) and that it's permeable and/or drains to soakaway.

# Avoid soakaways in permeable limestone (Llandough), where soakaway rainfall quickly reaches surface water drains and streams; instead retrofit larger holding ponds to reduce flooding of the Llandough stream.

## big programme of SuDS schemes in streets to take run-off into swales and grassed areas

Appraisal of the NRW flood-planning Map

The revision of TAN15 on Flooding has been delayed because of criticisms of the NRW map, which is supposed to be used for LDP purposes.  The VoG needs to examine its inadequacies here. 

# the predictions show limited flooding around Barry's No.2 Dock,though flood levels from the detailed 2008 Arup study for the Waterfront development gave flood levels about a metre higher.  The flood planning level for the East Quays housing development is thus a metre higher than what the Minister assumed for the Barry Biomass incinerator, though the two sites are 100 metres apart.  The rubric for the NRW map says it's not to be used for individual developments, where a specific study is needed.  The VoG needs to choose the Arup study over the NRW flood map and ask NRW to sort out the difference

# the NRW predictions for the east Vale were tested by the 4-hour intense rainstorm of 23 Dec. 2020.  Results in lower Penarth showed the NRW map was completely wrong in showing flooding from the Sully Brook over the Glamorganshire golf course.  In fact the flooding was on the Lavernock Road (Cosmeston) and across the carpark into the lake; the floodmap shows no flooding on the carpark and very little on Lavernock Rd.  

# The S.19 report on Sully and Dinas Powys which also suffered flooding in the 23 Dec. rainstorm did not assess what's needed to cope with the 'extreme' storm.  It reported the 23 Dec. flood was well below the 'extreme' that has to be taken into account for planning purposes.  The LDP therefore needs to make such flood assessments for all these communities and justify the spending on SuDS schemes (as above) against assessed outcomes.

Street Trees: Reverse VoG policy of not replacing street trees; positive schemes to restore tree-lined streets – Broad St in Barry; Plassey St in Penarth

Street trees help absorb some rainstorm run-off and can be combined with SuDS as in Grangetown to add permeable areas where rainwater infiltrates into the ground, relieving the sewer.

Street trees provide much needed shading during extreme heat waves, making shopping areas pleasant and attractive for street life

Street trees have cooling effect in urban areas during heat waves

People like street trees (they increase property values),

The VoG engineers' claim to require costly root-cages is not borne out in other towns; Cardiff has a positive planting policy, Bristol uses root barriers where necessary at a cost of ~£250 and finds many locations don't need them.

Positive strategy re. Nature Emergency

Countryside tree/woodland planting – develop strategy with regard to ecology and species

Policy to join up the Barry Woodlands SSSI - include extra fields and allow them to reforest.

Management plans for the countryside/woodland SINCs – eg. those of Pop Hill and south of Dinas Powys – joining them up and stopping fragmentation

Green and Blue Country Parks – for tourism and nature conservation

Aberthaw Country Park and Historical Site – to create by combining the existing conservation area in the old Thaw valley and Harbour with the coastal strip between the ash-mound and seawall.

Cosmeston Medieval Village: expansion to include the newly listed Farmhouse and archaeological site of Lower Cosmeston Farm..

Five-Mile-Lane archaeological site – save what's remaining with a proper plan for planting and management; exhibit records in a local museum

Value the Coast as a national asset

# planning for maintenance and improvement of the Wales Coastal Path

# exclude development on the coastal strip except for facilities that need a coastal location - this longstanding principle needs safeguarding in the LDP as it was ignored in allocating development land at Cosmeston.  Defining the "coastal strip" needs including in the LDP in consultation with the public, and taking into account the aim to promote tourism and expand the tourism business.

Reclaim Aberthaw Power Station site

With end of power stations from the 1950s, this complex site must be restored to a sustainable state with beneficial uses.  “Re-wilding” of the old Thaw valley and the ash-mound are well underway. Restoring the beach etc. for public recreation.

The LDP should identify the problems and allocate responsibilities to cover

# the artificial river Thaw mouth, which the sea blocks if not maintained

# the seawalls, ongoing maintenance and coping with increasing tidal surges under climate change

#  possible abandonment of the Gileston beach section of seawall with managed retreat plus new river Thaw estuary.

# ash-mound; assessment of managing its drainage and stability.

# New Rights-of-Way E.Aberthaw to St Athan and W. Aberthaw, using the railway bridges, also maintaining the Wales Coastal Path

# after-uses of the area, including for biodiversity, tourism, culture-historical recording, public access leisure-uses and rights-of-way.   Including conservation organisations in ongoing management

# create a Country Park, as above, for leisure and tourism on the coastal strip and eastern part of the site.

Transport Strategy

# town circular buses in Penarth-Llandough and Llantwit Major areas. Reliance on buses passing through on circuitous routes created poor and inflexible services.

# review active travel networks to meet gradient standards. The present networks discriminate against those with physical disability or mobility limitations, so breach the Council's duty to avoid indirect discrimination against the elderly and disabled.

# funding for upgrades to pavements and walking routes to meet good/high standards; the failure to provide reasonable funds (compared with highway maintenance) is indirect discrimination against the elderly and disabled

# make rail stations into activity hubs; the failure to develop retail and other activities at the Vale rail stations has given us very unattractive locations. Being poorly lit and isolated in evenings makes them unsafe particularly for women, so the failure is indirect discrimination against women.

Town Planning towards net-zero in local transport

WGovt wants public facilities to be located in town centres, to rebuild their attractiveness and facilitate access by walking or cycling. This research by RTPI and others show how to achieve it via positive planning rather than the VoG's laisser faire.

https://www.rtpi.org.uk/research/2020/june/net-zero-transport-the-role-of-spatial-planning-and-place-based-solutions/

 Final Comments:

The intention to proceed with old planning allocations that flout the Climate and Nature Emergencies is a dishonest attempt to continue Business-as-Usual.

This is particularly shown in the Model Farm and Cosmeston developments. The Welsh Government is deeply involved in both, so in no position to give disinterested planning advice. The public sees it as an undemocratic fix that discredits the planning system. So the VoG needs to find a way to openly and transparently review both these allocations.