Housing completions in Merthyr Tydfil are more than 30% lower than they need to be at this point, a report says. A Local Development Plan (LDP) monitoring report covering the period between April 2023 and March 2024 said there are some aspects of the replacement LDP that are not working as well or being implemented as effectively as they could.
The report finds that overall housing delivery has dropped below the level required at this point in the plan period with completions over 30% lower than they need to be. At April 2024, 702 houses had been completed across the county borough, which translates as more than 30% less than the target of 1,076 completions.
Targets are not being met in relation to the delivery of allocated employment land and the number of jobs delivered. There were no new developments on allocated employment sites over this monitoring period but the report said that due to the nature of employment developments (being relatively large in terms of area and floorspace) this is likely to happen irregularly, and in sudden increases, rather than in smaller regular increments.
It added that these allocations are primarily large sites aimed at single large employers and with their associated infrastructure costs may only prove to be more attractive when market conditions improve and/or when specialist users are found. There were no class B jobs delivered over this monitoring period of the replacement LDP with 118 jobs having been delivered since 2016. To get all the latest Merthyr Tydfil news straight to your inbox sign up to our newsletter here.
The report said that a small number of what are known as “class B” developments were delivered during the monitoring period but one related to the demolition of an existing industrial unit and the building of a new unit (of a similar size) and the others related to the extension or subdivision of existing employment activities and units so they did not provide any additional jobs. But it said that as these developments result in expansions and subdivisions of the existing activities they have the potential to increase the amount of jobs at these existing sites.
Applications were approved during this monitoring period, which could provide additional “class B” jobs once built, the report added, but it said the number of jobs delivered per year will need to increase significantly to meet the target of 1,251 jobs by March 2026. A target is not being met in relation to the improvement of priority open spaces using funding gained through the planning system.
No priority open spaces benefitted from section 106 or Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding during the monitoring period but the report said that the council is implementing a “significant capital programme” to refurbish and replace existing playgrounds across the county borough in order to improve the quality and accessibility of play provision and there were 10 playgrounds planned to be refurbished by the summer of 2024. And the target for heat-generating renewable energy development across the county borough has also not been met.
The report said that no renewable energy developments that generated heat were permitted over this monitoring period. It said that while the target to secure planning permission for 13.27MWth (megawatt thermal) of heat generation by 2021 was not met the trigger point of failing to secure 6.5MWth of heat generation by 2021 was not exceeded with a current installed capacity of 6.86MWth.
An information report to cabinet on Wednesday, January 8, said that given the findings in relation to housing delivery and the delivery of employment allocations further investigation and research will start immediately and feed into a full review. But the report also said that most aspects of the plan and its strategy are working well and that the policies of the replacement LDP are being implemented effectively.
It said the majority of development (91.6%) has been permitted on previously-developed land, which is 92 hectares of the 95 hectares of development permitted during this period. It said affordable housing continues to be delivered broadly in accordance with the target but there remains a high level of need for affordable housing, particularly in relation to single-person accommodation.
At April 2024 a total of 171 affordable dwellings had been completed across the county borough, which is 11% above the target level. It said that policies that look to protect environmental and historic designations have been implemented effectively with no development granted contrary to the relevant policies.
Merthyr Tydfil Council formally adopted the Merthyr Tydfil replacement Local Development Plan (LDP) in January 2020 and it covers from 2016 to 2031. Each October councils have to submit an annual monitoring report on their LDPs to Welsh Government.