Newport residents to have a say on plans for thousands of new homes in the city

Residents of Newport will soon have their say on detailed plans for future housebuilding in the city, including four key sites earmarked for thousands of homes.
Next week, councillors are expected to approve a new public consultation on the city’s replacement Local Development Plan (LDP), an overarching blueprint setting out where and how new homes and businesses will be located over the next decade.
Four key sites have been identified on the city’s outskirts – in Bettws, Langstone and Llanwern – for the bulk of the nearly 4,000 new homes the council said are needed to keep up with demand in Wales’ fastest-growing city.
They will be complemented by smaller candidate sites dotted around the city.
At a recent cabinet meeting, council leader Cllr Dimitri Batrouni said “we need new homes for Newport people”.
“We can’t afford housing to become unaffordable in the city, and in many areas it has already become unattainable for local people,” he said. “There’s a supply chain problem and we need more supply.”
Cllr Batrouni said the “reality” for today’s residents was “if you want your children and grandchildren to stay in Newport and afford a home, we need more homes”.
He added: “We can debate where and how many, but we do need more homes. And I’ve not met anyone serious who disagrees with that.”
Cllr Deb Davies, the council’s deputy leader, agreed there was a need for new housing, with “over 9,000 households on the register waiting for a home”.
She added the proposed replacement LDP also includes 79 hectares of land designated for employment uses.
“Over 14,000 jobs are potentially going to be created,” she said.
Following the cabinet meeting, Cllr Matthew Evans, who leads the Conservatives in opposition, said more homes were needed but planners should prioritise redevelopment of ‘brownfield’ sites, as well as target Newport’s empty homes.
“At the same time, we must ensure that our green open spaces are retained for future generations to enjoy,” he said. “In my ward of Allt Yr Yn, there were over 200 individual objections for the proposals to site more housing on the fields below Ridgeway.
“Not only would this have a huge detrimental impact on the environment and wildlife, we simply don’t have the infrastructure to cope.”
Cllr Evans argued a failure to deal with infrastructure which was “congested” and “at capacity” would amount to “just creating more problems in future”.
His Conservative colleague, Cllr David Fouweather, also represents the Allt Yr Yn ward and said he was opposed to any building on a green space at Ridgeway.
“There is already an issue with GP surgeries and the primary schools are almost at capacity,” he said. “Also last year, we had issues where children were refused places at John Frost as it was oversubscribed”.
Cllr Kevin Whitehead, an independent from Bettws, said he was concerned one of the new LDP’s key sites could earmark up to 650 new homes for the ward.
“Bettws really isn’t equipped with such a scheme as this”, he said, adding the proposal was “absolutely ridiculous” and “totally unworkable”.
Cllr Whitehead said he had told the council Bettws has “an alarming lack of infrastructure”, including one main road into the neighbourhood which currently “becomes heavily congested on a daily basis”, and a “clamour” for school places.
He said he accepted there was a “a desperate need for housing”, with “many Bettws residents currently on the huge waiting lists” – but said the ward “needs investment to bring its infrastructure to a level where services are adequate enough to support its vulnerable residents”. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

%gallery% ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

By BBC LDRS ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​