NW Barry KS1: massively increased traffic congestion and consequent noise and pollution, unacceptably over-strained GP and dental services (which will need a car to access), no adequate public transport infrastructure, no local cultural activities, and the need for a car to practically get to any facilities, none of this enhances Vale place-making and well-being objectives. Conversely they actively undermine such objectives. It appears that fulfilling a house-building quota has taken total priority over local residents well-being. The only things we have is a depressing surfeit of "fine words" from Vale planning which bear no relation to reality.

The North West Barry proposal will not 'avoid potential unintended negative health outcomes'. The negative health outcomes have been blaringly obvious from the start. (6.59) It will certainly not 'protect and enhance existing public health and wellbeing'. Even worse, the views of the residents who will bear the brunt of these impacts have been steadily ignored and/or repudiated by the council, as if we were mere encumbrances.

I strongly object to the proposed new build of 376 houses South of Port road because of the traffic congestion that is already a huge problem in the area also the doctors surgery would not cope over subscription of the local schools damage to the woodland of Porthkerry and run off of water from the streets that you intend to build.

Here we are again confronted with the lie of existing adequate transport and services provision (which do not exist) and assurances of mitigation packages which are at best woolly and hardly believable. The fact that any part of the site is within an existing flood zone, should eliminate it from the plan.

The untrustworthiness of the chosen developer is well known. How can we believe that promised planting enhancements and valued hedgerow protections will be adhered to? We lose our skylarks and green views (our 'visual amenity') and what do we get in return? A loss of biodiversity.

The effect of minimal widening of Port Road by the Weycock roundabout remains simply guesswork. The initial traffic study was done on "one" day in September 2023. This can hardly claim to be representative or accurate. With future housing developments in St. Athan, Rhoose and airport developments all entailing significant traffic increases on Port Road, the KS1 site (with 700+ odd new cars), will be trying to join Port Road just by the Weycock roundabout. This is a recipe for chaos. Minor road widening and a traffic light will do little to address expected increases in traffic.

NW Barry
1 services do not exist within walking or cycling distances
2 a 'safe, inclusive travel experience'? This is unlikely and positively unsafe by foot when it includes negotiating the congested roundabout.
3 The elderly and mothers with small children will not be walking to shops or railway staions.
5 There are no sustainable transport faciliities nearby, unless the car is used to acces them!
6 who is providing these. At what cost? Vague promises are not enough.

KS1: the RLDP proposes a 'modal shift towards sustainable forms of transport' and 'increasing Active Travel opportunities'. Basic facts: there is NO adequate public transport infrastructure (for KS1) and no prospect in the current financial environment. No buses go to the station or Barry town. This, I am sorry to say, is a barefaced lie by Vale planning. Further, the idea that the bulk of busy residents (elderly or young) - in either rainy weather or indeed hot weather - will regularly walk or cycle to schools, rail station or shops, is fantasy. Private cars will inevitably be prioritized.

I object to the proposed housing development at Weycock Cross for the following reasons:
The roads in the area, particularly Port Road, are heavily congested now. The proposed estate will cause significant increase in traffic, creating worsening congestion and road safety concerns. More vehicles would mean increased air pollution for local residents, effecting health and wellbeing.
Local infrastructure is already under pressure with insufficient doctor and NHS dentist appointments and a lack of school places.
Loss of green space which contributes to the local biodiversity and environmental balance in the area.

buses at regular intervals throughout the day might encourage residents to not get in their cars to make this journey.

Having lived opposite the Weycock Cross roundabout for over 10 years, I have never found there to be an adequate bus service from here.

Remove the KS1 NW Barry site from the RLDP plan would be a start in addressing traffic chaos

KS1 (NWBarry) is not a sustainable site. It has no adequate transport links, no buses to station or town, and no prospect for the foreseeable future. There is no way that the generality of residents with young children, dropping children in school, shopping, going to work in, say, Cardiff will walk or cycle. Shared car use would be nice in an ideal world, but ideal worlds remain ideal. Reality is very different. The unacceptable traffic congestion at Weycock roundabout, Port Road and Pontypridd road (and so forth) will not facilitate sustainable movement but conversely stasis and deep frustration

The siting of a new housing development at KS1 would leave new residents without reasonable access to main services and destinations without using a car. There are no serviceable active travel routes to the airport, train station, town or shopping centres. From that site none of these are walkable for the average person, let alone the elderly or families with small children. Privatisation of what was public transport has decimated all services over the recent decades. Only the reinstatement of them (at whose cost?) could change this situation. New residents will be cut off without cars..

I object to this application due to the following: the roads in the surrounding area are no longer capable for the amount of traffic using them, the dentists are not taking on any new patients, Drs unable to give appointments until weeks ahead, High schools at full capacity. Emergency services not able to meet times with the rds so full.

Re KS1: As stated: the Public Transport infrastructure is non-existent. The vague hopes for walking and cycling are unrealistic. The Green wedge between Barry and Rhoose is being built over and tarmacked; I am not sure how this enhances biodiversity and green spaces. The green environment is being basically decimated. Drainage and sewerage are currently in crisis. There are no community facilities at all. All local Health facilities are massively over-subscribed and vague promises about conversations with the Health Board remain empty. The written proposals for the NW Barry site is nothing more than a gilded fantasy.

If this NW Barry development goes ahead, I would think it essential to guarantee provision all of the facilities listed. That possibility seems unlikely.

I consider biodiversity enhancement to be crucial. This means green spaces should contain native trees and hedges. Community growing spaces and environmental protection should be mandated for. As to Biodiversity enhancement, tarmacking over 2/3 of the KS1 site would cause irreparable damage. The site contains several legally protected species, multiple priority habitats and adjoining, irreplaceable ancient woodland. Use of this land for development is ecologically unsound and irresponsible. It should be removed from the RLDP.

Keep this area as green wedge.

Access onto Port Road will intensify the already untenable traffic at Weycock cross. All mitigation is based on outdated traffic flows so is not sufficient. Traffic lights to allow access will have a massively negative affect on the flow of traffic at Weycock cross roundabout.
This area is green wedge currently so should have no development and left for farming.

As a resident of Cwm Talwg since 2011 i have watched the traffic increase to unworkable levels all around the area due to the increase in housing in the Vale and Barry, with no improvements to the road network apart from the widening of the Five Mile lane which has increased the amount of traffic using the roundabout which is heading for total gridlock, how will emergency services attend incidents when they are trapped in the chaos of Weycock Cross, roundabout. also the loss of valuble farmland and the extra load on the sewage system. what has happened to the Vales Green Policies.

It is recognised that the number of candidate sites is limited which reduces semi viable options to sites that under normal circumstances would not likely be considered. The plan should further consider areas of brownfield sites where the site is out of use and where the the Council could indicate consideration of an approach to the landowner and the potential for compulsory purchase where that land is not in commercial, housing or industrial use.

The plan is a short term solution to providing housing that run directly against a number of wider strategic long term issues. With particular reference to the land at Weycocks Cross, only last year the Vale of Glamorgan Public Services board launched a charter to tackle climate change and nature loss and yet this proposal would see established habitat and farmland lost forever, an encroachment onto the Green Wedge which, now inconvenient to the development, is planned to be moved which undermines its point. There will be an inevitable effect on Port Road, increased traffic congestion and pollutions which undermines the Council and Welsh Governments commercial plans for the airport and wider area.

I object with the weycock build. Being a resident the traffic is already bad going into & out of Rhoose, school pick up times are always congested. It’s just a nightmare and it’s getting worse, the extra build would be unbearable for local residents!

This development should have never got to the position it is in now, the Councillor for the ward was sick on the day of the vote, why was this allowed to go ahead? He would have had the deciding vote to have this absolutely inappropriate development removed from the RLDP, this is supposed to be a democratic country and it feels like the "for it" team has benefited from the fact a councillor against this was unwell, why was he not able/allowed to vote online or byproxy?? In truth this whole process stinks.

Re KS1: building over six fields of long-standing ancient farmland, immediately abutting an ancient protected woodland, will not contribute to green infrastructure, net zero goals or mitigate the effects of climate emergency. They will undermine such goals. The existing fields, as well as being well-utilized farm land, provide essential rainwater absorption, coping with increasing precipitation. There are also no clearly demarcated or financed measures to mitigate drainage and flood risk. There is also extensive biodiversity in the fields with many species of bats, dormice, otters, badgers, nesting skylarks and sparrowhawks, these will all be largely eliminated with such building

The RLDP significantly underplays the KS1 site's Green infrastructural importance as part of a wider connected landscape. The RLDP underestimates the Green infrastructure importance of the KS1 site, describing it as “unremarkable” or “low sensitivity,” which completely contradicts the 2014/15 Inspector’s view of it as part of a continuous landscape corridor. The RLDP also treats KS1 as isolated, ignoring its role in the Green land continuum between Barry and Rhoose. Further, the adjacent ancient Millwood is vulnerable to lighting, trampling, pollution, and potentially destructive hydrological changes. This nearby development risks damaging this protected ancient woodland through edge effects and disturbance.

The Deposit RLDP should be amended to exclude the land North West Barry due to major traffic congestion every day at peak times. The proposed development would increase traffic gridlock significantly on the A4226-the main route to the airport and the Vale beyond. With the planned 1600 extra houses in Rhoose and St Athan the congestion and pollution would worsen to unbearable levels. The air is dirty enough now! Recent weekend road works by the Cwm Ciddy pub which were controlled by traffic lights caused gridlock along Port Rd in all directions for most of the day. The impact of 376 more houses with traffic light control at the entrance and exit of the development, planned bus lanes and cycle lanes and controlled pedestrian crossing will only increase queuing and delays and 25 metre extra lane will make no difference. The capacity of the drainage and sewage infrastucture is very concerning. Considering the several recent sewage outages at all beaches along the Vale's coast how will the Millwood Stream cope with all the extra water output? It will lead to the contamination of the Millwood stream and the surrounding woodland of Porthkerry Park. The earlier assessment in 2014 was deemed detrimental to the capacity and free flow of the traffic on a major hub road to the airport and vale. The A4226 has its limitations. There are no significant improvements to justify reversing those findings. The development threatens established habitats supporting local fauna, foxes, wildlife and bats in particular are very prevalent most evenings. Has a bat survey been commissioned? Urbanisation of the green wedge site would result in long term ecological degradation impacting on the biodiversity. Now that the environmental bill has been passed in the Senedd this wonderful green wedge land needs protecting BY LAW and the deposit RLDP should be amended to exclude the Weycock Cross site.

KS1 site IS an area of visual amenity, a green infrasctructure asset. It connects ancient woodlands of Millwood and Porthkerry through open fields, established hedgerows and watercourses to wider agricultural areas of the Vale between Rhoose and Barry, to woodlands and fields all the way to Dyffryn and beyond. Such links, afforded by the concept of the Green Wedge, are essential to the movements and succesful breeding of a whole range of wildlife species. Ignoring the ecological requirements of our environment should not be permitted. Humans are not the only creatures on this land.

This site should not be included.

KS1 features species-rich native hedgerows classified as priority habitats, serving as bat corridors, dormouse routes, and habitats for birds, reptiles, and amphibians. RLDP plans include hedgerow breaches, habitat fragmentation; such fragmentation is explicitly contrary to the PPW requirement to maintain and enhance ecological networks. Multiple bat species, including Pipistrelles, Noctule, and Long-eared Bats, utilise the site, with key features like hedgerows and woodland edges as commuting corridors. Development risks from the RLDP include loss of flight lines, disruption from artificial lighting, and potential damage to a mature ash roost trees, severely impacting local bat populations

Hazel dormice have been found on KS1 site, existing hedgerows and woodland providing essential food and connectivity for the species. Loss or disturbance could threaten them, and they are protected under the Habitats Regulations. Evidence of badger activity indicates KS1 is part of their normal territory, and the development will severely disrupt their foraging and movement routes. There is considerable local evidence of otters present at the KS1 site (fresh footprints and recently a dead otter by Cwm Ciddy). Pollution, drainage, and lighting will affect their habitat and movement. Any development introduces an unavoidable risk of degrading riparian habitat.

You cannot continue to build houses without improving infrastructure. Port Road is already a major bottleneck at certain times of day, add in traffic for the new college, planned developments in Rhoose and St Athan, the potential business park at Model Farm and expansion of services at the airport all this will cause yet more road chaos and misery for users. One train an hour between Barry and Llantwit Major is not a sustainable transport solution and buses get caught up in the congestion.
Just for once listen to what local people are telling you.

I strongly obect to the removal of the existing Green Wedge at the KS1 site on several grounds. The argument that this land is not necessary for the Green Wedge to function is totally at odds with the findings of the inspector in 2015 that it's current boundary was valid and sound. Her conclusion was that the site is a meaningful part of an undeveloped landscape corridor.

Removal of this land ignores its key role in supplying connectivity between existing protected landscapes and the further landscapes of the Vale. Re-evaluating it as 'low grade' is primarily an expedient way of devaluing it in order to diminish its value as Green Wedge.

Their argument relies on minimising its landscape value and treating it as an isolated site. It wholly ignores its role as part of a continuum of open land between Barry and Rhoose. The Green Wedge designation protects function, not just scenic quality.

If the Vale's stated policy of
"ensuring the enhancement of biodiversity, the resilience of ecosystems, and maximising green infrastructure provision are crucial in responding to both the declared Climate and Nature Emergencies"
is to be believed then this development should be removed from their plan.

KS1 supports ground nesting birds (including the Skylark, Song Thrush and Sparrow, all Section 7 Priority Species), reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates. KS1 it is also part of the B Lines pollinator network designed to safeguard insect movement. KS1 development would cause irreversible habitat loss for all these species, will increase ecological disturbance, and break ecological corridors, failing to deliver the required biodiversity net benefit under current policies. The KS1 site containing protected species, priority habitats, and an ancient woodland, makes KS1 development ecologically unsound and contrary to relevant policies and it should therefore be removed from the RLDP.

The location of a number of proposed housing development sites such as the North West Barry site are unsuitable and cannot be realistically delivered inline with the placemaking principals. This development will lead to a net loss of biodiversity and the rumination measures offered are not a suitable substitute. The site location and planning also poorly links into public transport and roading infrastructure and in no way can deliver a public realm that promotes active travel and reduces the reliance on private car dependency.

Looking at the proposed site plans for a number of the new proposed housing developments they fall far short of meeting the points laid down by the placemaking principles. The site plans seem to simply prioritise housing and profit for developers. Looking at proposed site plans for the North West Barry site for instance the location and layout does not promote active travel with cycle routes and walking routes leading straight out onto busy major roads with limited public transport links. The proposed green spaces do not encourage biodiversity in line with what is recommended in the biodiversity surveys.

Acccording to the Environment (Wales) Act 2016 enhanced biodiversity and resilience of ecosystems is a duty, which "requires that in the exercise of their functions, public authorities in Wales must seek to maintain and enhance biodiversity by ensuring development does not cause any significant loss of habitats or populations of species and must provide a net benefit for biodiversity and improved ecosystem resilience." Removing the Green Wedge designation from the KS1 site goes directly against this duty. If biodiversity and ecosystem resilience within the site and the wider landsape are to be prioritised then the existing wild inhabitants of the site must be taken into account.

The loss of green space that housing and hardcore will replace is unforgivable. There will be less uncovered land to drain the increasing heavy rainfall that climate change is bringing. An impact on biodiversity will also be felt. Loss of habitat is a main reason for the drastic decline in wildlife species countrywide. In order to breed successfully they need connecting spaces through different kinds of green landscapes to widen the gene pool. Animals trapped in isolated habitats weaken and die out. This is widely documented. Wales' most prominent advocate for wildlife, Iolo Williams, has stated (in Tyr Natur) that " Cymru is one of the most nature depleted countries on the planet and despite conservation efforts, our wildlife is still in decline." Housing needs may be an urgent requirement, but so is biodiversity, the loss of which which will so negatively affect the lives of our children and grandchildren.

Bats, field mice, otters, owls, raptors, wood pigeons and skylarks are known to inhabit these fields. Swallows skim them in summer for the plethora of insects. Wrens and other small birds nest in the scrub and hedges surrounding them. From my garden I hear the songs of robins, wood pigeons, blackbirds, dunnocks, tits and goldfinches. Skylarks nest in them all through spring and summer, their songs lifting up into the air above us as they rise. These are endangered red-listed birds. THIS IS BIODIVERSITY. We should be avid in our protection of what we still have. These Green Wedge fields act as a wildlife corridor between the country park and the further landscape of our beautiful Vale. Take it away and it is gone for good. Yet more numbers of species will be lost. Wildlife is not just a luxury. It is the web that supports the health and wellbeing of all creatures on this earth, ourselves included.

As a gardener this aspect is close to my heart. On the edge of these fields I garden organically with care for biodiversity.