Cyngor Bro Morgannwg
Vale of Glamorgan Council

I am objecting to the inclusion of the site no 370 (Bryn Melin) in the RLDP. I have set out my reasons below. I am challenging the soundness of the assessments leading to its inclusion and questioning whether the assessment process has been objectively implemented.
1. The greenfield current site is not the site included in the existing LDP despite assertions in the RLPD that it is. It does not include an adjacent field necessary to comply with the qualification in the existing LDP to align the St Athan Road – an action necessary to remove significant risk to road users and those entering and exiting the site.
2. Sustainability – The stage 3 sustainability assessment carried out for this site and others in Cowbridge calls into question the assessment method and its deployment. The failure to understand the local environment and topography of the Cowbridge sites and in particular site 370 in the assessment gradings has led to patently incorrect assessments. When the actual environment and topography is taken into account, the RLDP sustainability assessment seems skewed to include site 370 despite its obvious unsuitability simply because there is an existing 3.5 year old planning application. The specific areas of concern are :-
- Narrow road and dangerous entrance and exit – confirmed by an expert independent risk assessment.
- Very limited access to and from the site
- No provision for cyclists despite the Policy to do so.
- The site has a hill with gradient of up to 12% running through its centre.
- Despite being in a Special Landscape area, the assessment score of Green ++ cannot be supported. No mitigation measures will hide the development from view.
- Understanding the habitats in and around the site by local residents has been ignored. Evidence is available that Badgers, slow worms, Red Kites and Otters in the nearby river Thaw are significant.
This failure to reflect local obvious characteristics calls into question the Sustainability assessment process.
3. Transport – Cowbridge residents generally work away from the Town and drive to get to their place of work. The only public transport is a bus to Cardiff or Porthcawl. The centres of employment mean that the bus is not a viable means for transport to work for most people despite the score in the Sustainability Assessment.
4. Viability – It is rare that viability features in Local development plans. Recent research indicates that this aspect is important in making decisions on where development has a good chance of being built and should take place. In the case of Site 370, there is good information relevant to this site posted in the Planning documents in 2025. The current percentage of Social Housing in a development of this size is 40% (35% when the planning Application was submitted). The viability clearly shows that the development of this site is not viable if the Welsh Policy on Social Housing is insisted upon. The difficult site elements (above) add to the cost of development. It would only be viable if social housing percentage is reduced to 18% and the payment to the local authority and cost of the land substantially reduced. The viability assessments support the conclusion that the site is not sustainable and should not be included..
5. Alternatives – If the sustainability assessments of the Cowbridge sites had been conducted with a clear understanding of the local environment, sites other than 370 (Bryn Melin) would provide a better alternative.