AN analysis by the Local Democracy Service has revealed that a number of Vale sites allocated for housing in 2011 still have no planning applications to their name.
Nevertheless, the analysis does reveal that a large number of homes have been built – something that will be no surprise to Vale residents.
The Vale Council’s current local development plan (LDP), which is intended to run from 2011 to 2026, earmarked a total of 48 sites for development with the intention of delivering 8,525 homes.
However, to date there are still at least six allocated sites where no planning application has yet been submitted. Around 2,000 homes are still in the pipeline.
After reviewing its LDP in June 2021, the council decided that it would need to come up with a replacement plan (RLDP). This RLDP, which will run until 2036, has not yet been adopted and is still being prepared.
Until the lengthy step-by-step process is complete, the current LDP still applies.
Here is a look at some of the major sites in the Vale which were earmarked for housing developments and what has happened to them.
Penarth
The total housing allocation for Penarth in the adopted LDP is 860 homes and the biggest designated sites for the area is the land at Upper Cosmeston Farm.
A planning application was put in for 567 homes, matching the set housing allocation for this particular site, in 2020.
However, according to Vale of Glamorgan council’s website no decision has yet been made on whether or not to grant planning permission.
Another major site earmarked for development in Penarth is the land adjacent to Oak Court, which has a housing allocation of 146 homes.
Planning permission was granted for up to 102 homes on the site in November 2022.
The Vale Council and Wales & West Housing were approached for an update on whether or not construction work has started for this development.
Barry
Plans are already in place to build 2,000 homes at Barry Docks.
The site named ‘phase 2 Barry Waterfront’ in the council’s LDP has a housing allocation of 1,700 homes.
Houses have been built and the site is still under construction. However, the group behind the development, Barry Waterfront Consortium, has been criticised by the council in the past.
More recently, the consortium, which is made up of Taylor Wimpey, Persimmon Homes and Barratt Homes was accused of failing to deliver certain aspects of the development by the council leader.
These include green spaces, parks and footpaths which are yet to be created.
In a joint statement issued recently, the consortium said it has devised and commenced a detailed programme of works.
No planning permission has been granted for land to the west of Pencoedtre Lane which has a housing allocation of 137 homes.
The other major housing allocation for Barry is 177 homes for White Farm.
After a lengthy planning process which involved an appeal by housing developers Persimmon Homes against the council being upheld, plans for 177 homes were approved in 2012.
Construction work on the White Farm development has since been completed.
Llantwit Major
The largest allocation for housing in Llantwit Major in the current LDP is land between the new northern access road and Eglwys Brewis Road.
It is hoped that a total of 375 homes can be delivered here.
Plans for 240 homes at this allocation site, split across two separate plots, were approved in April 2021.
The Welsh Government, which applied for planning permission in relation to this development, said construction work cannot commence until section 106 agreements have been finalised and signed.
Rhoose
More than 700 homes were allocated for Rhoose across two different sites, one to the north of the railway line and one to the south of the railway line.
Plans for 350 homes were approved for the site to the north of the railway line in 2015. The now completed Taylor Wimpey housing estate is called Golwg y Mor.
An application was made by Persimmon Homes for the construction of 247 homes on land adjacent to Golwg y Mor in June 2022, but no decision has been made by the council on this yet.
The development of 87 homes to the south of the railway line, subject to a planning application which was approved in 2013, has been completed.
Dinas Powys
An application for 215 homes on land at an adjoining former school on Murch Road was approved by the council in 2018.
Located on land formerly occupied by St Cyres Lower School, the 215-home development called Scholars Park was approved in 2018 and is now largely complete.
The housing allocation for this site in the current LDP is 300 homes.
Cowbridge
The Vale Council earmarked land to the north and west of Darren Close in Cowbridge for 475 homes in its adopted LDP.
Plans for 169 homes on this site were approved in October 2017.
In the following year, the council approved an application for 306 new homes for the site – fulfilling the designated allocation.
The Taylor Wimpey development, which will include a new primary school and roundabout connecting the site to the A48 is still under construction.
However, residents have started moving in and properties are up for sale.
Development has not started on land adjoining St Athan Road in Cowbridge which has an allocation of 130 homes.
An application for 105 new homes at the site was made to Vale of Glamorgan Council in August 2022, but this is still under consideration.
St Athan
Hundreds of homes were allocated for St Athan in the council’s LDP.
Land at Higher End was given a housing allocation of 220 homes and planning permission for 108 homes in total has so far been approved for the site.
An application for 100 homes on land at St John’s Well was approved by the council in 2015 and another application for eight homes was approved in 2018. Construction of the 100 homes approved in 2015 has been completed.
The council earmarked land at Church Farm for 250 homes, but no application for development has yet been approved for the site.
Similarly, no application for housing has been approved for the former stadium site in St Athan, which has a housing allocation of 65 homes.
However, plans to build 253 homes on land to the east of Eglwys Brewis were given the go ahead and construction is underway. This is just two homes short of the housing allocation for this site in the LDP.
Llandough
According to the council, no application for housing at Llandough Landings, which has an allocation of 120 homes, has been lodged yet.
In April this year, an application for 133 flats and houses on land south of Llandough Hill was approved subject to a legal agreement.
The site, which has a housing allocation of 130 homes in the LDP, will be split into two sections, with an upper plateau comprising of 33 houses and a lower plateau having 100 flats.
Sully
One of the largest housing allocation sites in the Vale is for land west of Swanbridge Road.
The council has earmarked it for 500 homes in the LDP and so far, planning permission has been granted for 325 homes. According to Taylor Wimpey’s website the housing site, called Gwel yr Ynys, is fully complete.
The Vale Council’s next LDP annual monitoring report is currently being prepared and will be published in October.
By Ted Peskett, local democracy reporter.
Additional information by Philip Irwin, senior reporter.
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