Plaid Cymru group request copies of council documents before making fresh LDP decision

Local Plaid Cymru councillors have repeatedly requested documents surrounding a possible re-run of the Local Development Debate but say they ‘have not sight of the papers’.

Yesterday we reported how Wrexham Council have called an “Extraordinary Meeting” of the Full Council on the 14th of June, something they have now confirmed is ‘about the LDP’.

Multiple councillors are concerned it will see a re-run of the decision taken to throw out the Local Development Plan (LDP), something that appears to have come back to the table following a legal challenge to the decision by an unknown third party.

Before the meeting in April where the decision was taken councillors were provided with Counsel advice that noted the legal requirement to adopt the plan, and at the meeting officers reiterated several times to councillors there was a ‘statutory duty’ to adopt the LDP. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​Councillors were warned a legal challenge was possible, along with several other scenarios.

We documented responses from the Independent, Labour and Conservative group leaders on the topic, and today can publish the full response from the Plaid Cymru group.

Responding to our question on the meeting and the LDP, Plaid Cymru group leader Cllr Marc Jones told us, “Plaid Cymru’s position on the Local Development Plan has been consistent for the past decade. We’ve argued that it is not a plan for local communities because it allocates land for land based on a flawed population projection that expected the borough’s population to grow by 10%. The reality is that it has been static for five years and is projected to decline further by about 2% in coming years.

“This makes a nonsense of the LDP’s proposal to allocate greenfield sites for huge executive housing estates on two sides of the town. The LDP was also flawed because the initial allocation of affordable housing was halved by planning inspectors – at a time when the council housing waiting list has trebled in the past three years.

“I said in the last meeting just six weeks ago that officers were in an impossible position because the Labour Government was working hand in glove with developers to maximise these large-scale developments. This latest legal threat, which we as councillors have not had sight of despite repeated requests, needs to be considered carefully. It’s regrettable that councillors have not been allowed to see either the legal papers filed or the council’s response.

“It’s a matter of democratic transparency that elected councillors have sight of the papers filed against the council, the counsel’s opinion and the council’s responses to the Judicial Review. And that we know who has brought the Judicial Review.

“How else are we meant to make an informed decision unless we’re going to be commanded to vote for the LDP, with all its failings? Until we have sight of that information, it would be premature to make a decision on how we will vote as a group but it’s safe to say that Plaid Cymru councillors will be consistent and back the community, the environment and the principle of democracy as we have throughout this process.”

As we wrote yesterday, it is unclear if any or all councillors will change their position from just 56 days prior considering they have basically the same information before them, including warnings about what happens if they do not want the LDP to be adopted locally. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

It is not yet clear what the extraordinary meeting meeting process will entail, but councillor options could see some move to change their position, abstain from the process, or not even turn up to the meeting.