State of Wales returns in 2024 with a look at an often debated element of the planning system – Local Development Plans.
It was an easy topic to pick given a recent row in Wrexham. After voting down an LDP twice during 2023, councillors were threatened with prison. The LDP was eventually approved in December 2023, though Wrexham Council’s Plaid Cymru group walked out of the meeting.
Put simply, Local Development Plans (LDPs) set out how land is to be used in a local authority or national park.
Interested parties – landowners, developers, the local authority themselves and other agencies – put forward land they have an interest in for future development (known as candidate sites).
Planning officers then decide which candidate sites to add to the final LDP based on whether that land will meet the expected needs of the local authority over the period of the LDP – usually 15 years.
LDPs usually come with a map of selected candidate sites, colour-coded by use (housing is usually brown, retail/industrial/business land is usually blue, protected green spaces are usually green etc.). It often looks something like this:
Some candidate sites might contain multiple uses. These are often called strategic development sites or mixed-use developments (or something along those lines) – for example, a single piece of land might be put forward for housing, a new school and a business park.
