Cardiff Council's executive has approved plans for a series of consultee sessions and a 'user-friendly' website to better engage with the public over the drafting up of the new local development plan (LDP).
The draft delivery agreement, which was heavily criticised by Cardiff Civic Society, was approved at the executive business meeting this afternoon and will go before the full council later this month.
The amended agreement hopes to provide ways for Cardiff's citizens to engage with the process of producing a new local development plan – a document which sets out how the city will grow in the next 15 years.
The original local development plan was scrapped after Welsh Assembly Government planning inspectors signalled it would not be approved earlier this year. Residents groups also criticised the council on how they were consulted for the previous plan.
Plans to better engage with citizens
The delivery agreement sets the timetable for producing the new LDP and how it will engage with citizens.
Speaking at the meeting today, executive member for the environment, Margaret Jones, said:
"There are extensive opportunities for the community to become involved in three stages – developing the vision, considering strategic options and considering strategic sites."
Cardiff Civic Society, one of the consultees for the delivery agreement, criticised the council's Community Involvement Scheme – arguing it did not provide opportunities for citizens of Cardiff to properly engage with producing the LDP.
Now the council has promised stake holders consultee conferences and four other consultee conferences to be held across the city, and Jones said there will also be opportunities for those who cannot come to the meetings to get involved. News about LDP consultation will also be in Capital Times, the council-run publication.
A user-friendly website will be made and there will be events to raise awareness of the LDP proposals. Jones said there was scope for using the university as a venue for engagement events.
Jones told executive members a cross-party consultative group would be established, and the LDP panel would continue to operate.
Process of planning Cardiff's future cannot be shortened
But calls for the process of producing the local development plan to be shortened were dismissed by the executive. A finalised plan is due to be made by 2014, but Cardiff Civic Society suggested a plan could be drawn up in one or two years. Jones said:
"The timetable inevitable reflects the complex process that must be followed. It reflects a balance between delivering a plan as quickly as possible whilst ensuring due process is followed and minimising the risk of challenge.
"No compelling reasons have been repesented to signal a departure from the draft timetable."
Independent group leader Adrian Robson questioned whether the fact an LDP had already been prepared, with some aspects which were not rejected by WAG planning inspectors, had shortened the time needed to prepare a new plan.
He said:
"I'm concerned the council spent a lot of time preparing the previous LDP which was withdrawn and there were some elements bot being criticised by inspectors. Has that saved us some time?"
Jones said that some time had been saved in the preparation process.
Council leader Rodney Burman said:
"It's quite a long process from start to end. You go out to consult at an early stage and then try to follow through a plan in line with what people want. The LDP we had did not progress and the world had changed quite dramatically between the original and the final – the economic downturn impacted on local assumptions.
"You can't actually be sure your consultation holds valid by the time you get to an end point. We might have to look to what's being done in England – with dealing with it in sections rather than the whole thing."
The delivery agreement will now go before the full council before being passed on to the Welsh Assembly Government for approval, and does not contain any policy-related material.
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