New homes approved in Vale of Glamorgan village Ystradowen

Vale of Glamorgan Council’s planning committee approved a scheme at a meeting on Friday, July 19 that will see 46 homes, 19 of which will be affordable, built on land to the east of Ystradowen.

There were concerns from local residents about the plans, and particularly how it will impact on traffic and parking on Sandy Lane, where the access to the site will be.

Developers attempted to allay these worries by highlighting that there will be a number of improvements to the road including the widening of Sandy Lane and a new pavement.

One planning committee member, Councillor Ian Johnson, commented that the overall standard of social housing in the Vale is “quite good”, but added that he had concerns about access to public transport.

“Ystradowen is a village almost three miles away from Pontyclyn and three miles away from Cowbridge and I understand that this is part of the local development plan adopted by the council in 2017,” said Cllr Johnson.

“But, it does concern me if we have a site here that’s three miles away from the closest villages or towns and there is a lack of public transport.”

He later went on to add: “I am more concerned here than I was at Llysworny that we are developing a housing estate that is overly reliant on cars and considering the discussions we had earlier about emissions… I wonder what the thinking was in the local development plan in the first place.”

The plan for the houses in Ystradowen (Image: Amity planning consultants)

Councils use local development plans (LDPs) to determine which areas of land will be used for development. This also includes non-residential developments.

Vale of Glamorgan Council is currently in the process of developing a replacement LDP (RLDP) and as part of this, the council needs to set a preferred growth strategy.

As part of its preferred strategy, the council estimates that it will need to build 7,890 homes by 2036.

Vale of Glamorgan Council director of place, Marcus Goldsworthy, said: “Members will be aware that recently we have just had a preferred strategy which has gone to cabinet and been to scrutiny. That preferred strategy is quite different to the last preferred strategy.

“However, it is fair to say that when we looked at sustainability in respect to some of these villages, the issue of transport wasn’t just the reason why they were considered to be sustainable… or weren’t considered to be sustainable.

“We did look at the villages themselves – the amount of affordable housing that existed in those villages; what amount of affordable houses they had themselves; and whether, in providing additional housing, you were breathing new life into those villages.”

Mr Goldsworthy said that when the currently adopted LDP was being considered, a decision was taken that new housing needed to be spread around more rural areas to support villages.

He added: “Areas like Wick and other villages did receive some additional housing allocations and over time, that has supported… existing facilities like schools and shops in those small villages and that was the same decision that would have been taken in this particular case.

“However, as we move forward I think it is fair to say that the new strategy and the new plan is very much focused on areas close to the main transport centres and transport routes and so with all things, we change over time.

“This was very much considered to be acceptable in the original plan which we are still working to, but it is unlikely we will be seeing extensions to villages as part of the new local development plan.”