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Dis-application of TAN1

Published: 18/06/2018

Cabinet will be asked to approve the basis for a robust response to Welsh Government supporting the dis-application of paragraph 6.2 of Technical Advice Note 1 (TAN1) when it next meets on Tuesday, 19 June. The proposal by Welsh Government to dis-apply paragraph 6.2 is fully supported and Flintshire County Council will press Welsh Government to ensure a wide ranging and comprehensive review is progressed as soon as possible. This would reduce the weight attached to the lack of a five year land supply when considering applications for speculative housing development. This would go some way to alleviating some of the extreme pressure the Council and its communities are currently facing in having to accept speculative developments. Whilst Flintshire is currently one of four Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) that cannot demonstrate a five year supply as they are without an adopted Local Development Plan (LDP), of the 21 LPAs who do have an adopted LDP, only six are able to demonstrate a five year land supply. This clearly shows that having an adopted LDP does not ‘guarantee’ a five year supply and, more fundamentally, something is clearly wrong with the current method taken by the TAN1 policy approach. Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Planning and Public Protection, Councillor Christopher Bithell, said: “Thankfully, the issues and pressures on LPAs and communities created by the present policy have now been recognised by the Welsh Government. The Council agrees with, and fully supports, the proposed dis-application but this needs to happen, not just for the duration of the call for evidence, but until such time as the outcome of the review is known. This will significantly relieve the pressure we are currently experiencing to unconditionally accept speculative development such as the very recent decision to approve the development of 186 units in Penymynydd, made by the Cabinet Secretary. The Council has in the pipeline and yet to determine, a number speculative applications for a further 1,037 units in various parts of the County.” This will also enable the Council to maintain its focus on progressing the LDP which is at a critical stage in terms of preparing a deposit plan, where the Council must make decisions about allocating sufficient and sustainable sites to meet the plan’s housing requirement.