Lack of affordable housing in Wrexham’s rejected LDP “gives free rein to developers”, says Plaid Cymru MS

A minimum commitment to affordable housing in Wrexham’s Local Development Plan effectively gives free rein to developers, a Plaid Cymru politician has argued.

Mabon ap Gwynfor, Member of the Senedd for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, challenged Climate Change Minister Julie James, in the Senedd on Wednesday over a “lack of up-to-date data” provided to local authorities on housing need and population growth.

Wrexham Council is facing a judicial review by the Welsh Government after rejecting its LDP twice in Guildhall votes.

The troubled and at times controversial plan, which allocated land across the county borough for housing and development, was found sound by the Planning Inspectorate earlier this year.

However concerns remain over the selection of some sites in the plan which have been allocated for large scale housing developments and gypsy and traveller sites.

There have also been questions on the need for several thousand new homes after the most recent Census revealed a population growth of just 0.2 per cent in Wrexham over the last 10 years.

Speaking on Wednesday Mabon ap Gwynfor questioned the “the lack of up-to-date information concerning projected population growth and other critical factors that should inform planning for housing.”

He said: “The Minister will be aware that Wrexham County Council has voted twice against their draft Local Development Plan, which was intended to chart the course of development in the region, including the allocation of space for thousands of new homes.

“The implications of this decision go beyond the immediate, affecting the future viability and suitability of housing solutions for generations to come.

“How can you plan for future housing developments if you don’t know where they’re needed, how many are required and who they’re being built for?”

However Julie James MS said Wrexham’s Local Development Plan had gone through the correct process.

Climate Change Minister Julie James

Ms James said: “The council has not accepted its own plan—I can’t emphasise enough that it’s its own plan that it hasn’t accepted—and it’s now subject to judicial review proceedings. So I’m constrained as to what else I can say because of those judicial review proceedings.

“My understanding, though, is that the council isn’t able to put up a proper defence to those and it remains to see what will happen.”

Mr ap Gwynfor also questioned the lack of affordable housing in Wrexham’s LDP, stating that such plans should be “used as a tool to serve communities, not to give carte blanche to large developers.”

He added: “However, when you say that the council has rejected its own plans, it is a democratic body and the democratically elected members have refused the draft proposal.

“Wrexham County Council evidently voted against the local development plan, in part because they didn’t believe it would serve the needs of local communities.

“Considering the LDP that returned from inspectors only included a nine per cent affordable housing component, rejection shouldn’t have come as a surprise.

“What’s apparent to many—including campaigners, local councillors and myself—is that the minimum commitment to affordable housing in the plan effectively gives free rein to developers to build unaffordable housing that only really benefits them, not the local communities.

“Even in this case, it’s possible that Welsh Government could force the plan on the local council and the population against the wishes of residents in the area.

“Plans must prioritise the delivery of enough truly affordable housing to serve the needs of current and future communities.”

Ms James said only having a Local Development Plan in place would stop speculative development.

She said: “The lack of the plan is what causes the speculative development, because a council has no plan against which to test its planning applications, and that’s self-evident.

“As I said, I’m not able to discuss the ins and outs of the situation in Wrexham because of the legal situation there, but I cannot emphasise enough that this is a plan that was taken through by the council through all of its systems, it went through the inspection and arrived at the final stage before it was voted against.”

Ms James added: “This is not anything to do with democracy, this is entirely to do with a misunderstanding, I’m afraid, by the leadership of that council as to the actions they’ve taken and the consequences for their planning system, which are that they have no plan against which to measure any planning application.”

The issue looks likely to be before the courts in the coming couple of months.

If there is any action from councillors in Wrexham remains to be seen, and questions and FOIs have been placed by Wrexham.com in an attempt to shed some light on what has been going on behind closed doors locally related to the matter.