Written question WQ99728

Managing sewage demand from new housing development is co-ordinated through the development plan preparation process. Planning Policy Wales identifies that planning authorities should, as far as possible, develop a strategic and long-term approach to infrastructure provision when preparing development plans. This means maximising the use of existing infrastructure and considering how the provision of different types of infrastructure can be co-ordinated. Planning authorities and infrastructure providers must work together closely to achieve the most sustainable outcome.

Development may need to be phased, in consultation with the relevant utilities providers, to allow time to ensure that the provision of utilities can be managed in a way consistent with sustainable development policies.

The Vale of Glamorgan Council benefits from an adopted Local Development Plan (LDP). However, this plan is currently in the process of being revised where new additional sites are being considered through the statutory process. A part of these considerations will be whether there is sufficient water/sewage capacity to accommodate future growth, alongside other matters. This will form part of the evidence base to justify, or not, allocations coming forward in the revised LDP. This is a matter for the Council as planning authority to demonstrate.

If any interested party has concerns about the capacity of infrastructure to support development, along with any other issues, they should make their views known to the planning authority through the statutory consultation stages. If such a ‘duly made representation’ is made, there is a right to appear at the subsequent examination by a Planning Inspector to make their views known. It is not appropriate for Welsh Ministers to comment further on the polices, allocations or merits of an emerging LDP due to their powers in the process.