NOT enough new homes are being built in the Vale of Glamorgan, the council has been told.

Head of sustainable development at Vale of Glamorgan Council, Ian Robinson, addressed members of one of the council’s scrutiny committees on Tuesday October 17 as they discussed a report showing that house building in the county is falling short of targets set out by the local authority.

As part of Vale of Glamorgan Council’s local development plan (LDP), 6,042 additional homes were delivered as of April 1, 2023 which is 22 per cent below the monitoring target of 7,567 dwellings for the period.

An LDP is used by local authorities to determine which areas of land can be used for development over a certain period of time.

A member of the council’s environment and regeneration scrutiny committee, Cllr Anthony Ernest, said it was disappointing to see that the council has missed some of its targets and asked how it can go about improving the current situation.

Vale of Glamorgan Council’s latest annual monitoring report on its LDP also shows that 6,072 (78 per cent) of new dwellings approved since 2011 have been on allocated LDP sites, which is above the monitoring target of 5,592.

Ian Robinson said: “We are due to see the best part of about 700 dwellings come forward to planning committees in the coming months.

“There are a couple of applications which are nearing the point of being reported, probably one to the next committee and one to the one after.

“I think it is likely in the next 12 months that we are probably going to be seeing quite high numbers in terms of some of those sites.

“Towards the end of the planning period, it does slow down a bit because a lot of the allocations are consented and being built out and we can only be in control over what we are approving and what we are determining.”

The council’s current LDP, intended to run from 2011 to 2026, earmarked a total of 48 sites for development with the intention of delivering 8,525 homes

A number of external factors have contributed to targets being missed, including the availability of building materials and a decrease in demand for housing due to the financial pressure that households across the UK currently face.

Mr Robinson also said that he has been told market conditions for all house builders at the moment are “really poor”.

He added: “What we need to do is make sure that when we have applications on allocated sites before us… we are getting those to their best possible shape before reporting them to the planning committee so that members feel capable of dealing with them at planning committee in a way which is in accordance with the LDP.

“Likewise for employment sites.”

The annual monitoring report highlights that the delivery of jobs is also an area where targets are not being met.

Since the adoption of the current plan, the total amount of LDP land with approved planning applications relating to employment use in the Vale of Glamorgan is currently at 96.71 hectares.

This is considerably lower than the 251 hectares target set out for the next annual monitoring report.

In reference to the approval of employment land falling below projections for the LDP period, Mr Robinson referenced an application for a major new business park on land at Model Farm.

The council’s planning committee decided in May 2023 that they will defend a planning appeal made against it after deciding not to approve the proposal.

Mr Robinson said: “There is no secret that we have had a controversial and very complex employment application before us over the last few years and there have been a number of factors affecting that.

“I think there remains a very strong need to make our decisions as a planning authority in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise.

“Where we have allocations that have been made based on evidence at the outset of the adoption of the plan that we are giving the necessary weight to that status and that will help us deliver on those targets going forward.”