Residents, landowners, developers and community councils have the opportunity to identify suitable land that can meet the needs of their local community.
Powys County Council has started a three-and-a-half-year process to prepare its new Replacement Local Development Plan which will cover all of Powys, excluding the Brecon Beacons National Park.
The Replacement Local Development Plan will set out the council’s proposals and land-use policies for the future development of land in its area. It will cover 15-year period from 2022 -2037 with implementation due from 2026, when it will be used to guide decisions on planning applications.
The council is now calling for potential development sites, which will be collectively known as Candidate Sites, to be submitted for inclusion in the Replacement Local Development Plan.
The call for sites is now open for six weeks, from Tuesday, November 1 to Tuesday, December 13, 2022.
Any one person, group or organisation can submit a site, submissions are being invited for sites suitable for all types of land use including:
- All types of Housing (including affordable and specialist)
- Employment
- Community Facilities
- Tourism
- Green Infrastructure / Open Space
- Waste
- Health, Education and Social Care
- Gypsy and Travellers
- Retail
- Recreation
- Renewable Energy
- Biodiversity
- Transport Infrastructure
- Minerals
The council will then assess the submissions to determine whether or not they are suitable for inclusion in the Replacement Local Development Plan.
Cllr Jake Berriman, Cabinet Member for a Connected Powys, said: “It is no secret that one of the reasons that we are reviewing our Development Plan early is because we have under delivered on housing completions.
“Ordinarily, this would be disappointing, but in a time when we face a housing crisis, it is unacceptable.
“Although the reasons for this lack of development are complex, what is striking is that that 68%, that is 54 of the 80 sites allocated in the existing Plan, do not have any form of planning permission, they have simply sat on someone’s books and contributed nothing to our pressing housing needs.
“In calling for sites now I want to make it very clear that we be examining all proposals very carefully and testing them for clear deliverability.
“Landowners and developers sitting on the 54 stagnant sites I have mentioned should beware that they will not simply be passported across to the new plan, I expect to see a clear route to delivery, this is the only way we can properly serve the needs of all our communities.”
