THERE has been a large number of objections to the Vale Council’s plans to allocate land for development in the county.

The ‘Replacement Local Development Plan’ (RLDP) is a key council policy document which allocates land for development, designates areas for protection and contains policies that provide the basis for the determination of planning applications.

The RLDP Preferred Strategy proposes to build 8,679 dwellings over the plan period and is based upon the average annual build rate of 526 dwellings achieved during an initial 10 year period.

A report recently published on the public consultation of the RLDP has revealed a huge number of objections to the strategies.

Those objections stem from key developments, including north east of Barry, land north of Dinas Powys, land at Readers Way, Rhoose, and pockets of land near St Athan.

On the ‘preferred strategy’, results showed 2,853 made representations, comprising 225 representations of support, 425 comments and 2,203 objections.

Representations made in support of the RLDP vision and objectives commented that it was aspirational and ambitious, promoted economic growth and sought to address the challenges of climate change.

Objectors suggested that the proposed housing and employment allocations and the spatial distribution of housing proposed within the strategy, along with the proposed level of growth and identification of greenfield sites, would have a detrimental impact on climate change and protecting and enhancing the natural environment.

Natural Resources Wales raised concerns about the scale of the development north east of Barry and the proximity to the Barry Woodlands SSSI (site of special scientific interest).

NRW also raised concerns that the development would create risks from unauthorised and unmanaged public access.

Wales’ environment agency considered that there is scope to reduce the developed area of the site and enable a sustainable design that reduces the potential for impacts upon the SSSI.

The council relayed these concerns to the promoters of the sites, and it is intended that site layouts will be amended to reflect the comments of NRW.

On the Dinas Powys development, Plaid local councillor Chris Franks said: "We remain opposed to these massive developments.

“It is an outrage that cabinet is set to ignore the views of hundreds of residents.”

Consultation was held between December 6, 2023, and February 14, 2024, and the report into this consultation was published on July 11.