Place Plans were recently introduced by Welsh Government as a way of encouraging greater community engagement in local planning decision making. The Newtown & Llanllwchaiarn Place Plan will be the first one of its kind in the Powys planning authority area.
We are pleased to report that following recent public consultation, the final draft of the Newtown And Llanllwchaiarn Place Plan will be submitted to Powys County Council Cabinet for adoption on 22nd June 2021.
Work on the Newtown & Llanllwchaiarn Place Plan started in early 2019 and it features detailed plans for the town covering the next 15 years. Over 7,000 comments were received at various events in the town and a public survey. 48 local organisations including local groups, schools & pupils, were involved in collecting evidence. People of the town gave their views on topics including community facilities, vacant buildings, health & well-being, housing & climate change. There had been a small pause in the work on the place plan last year while officers supported the Covid-19 response.
The contents of the Place Plan are based directly on the community’s comments and suggestions. Key sections of the plan include:
• Planning Policies – when adopted by Powys County Council (as Supplementary Planning Guidance), these policies will help the town’s wishes to be taken into account, when planning applications are assessed for the Newtown & Llanllwchaiarn area.
• Projects and Actions – a large number of identified tasks, that several organisations in the town aim to deliver over the next 15 years
• “Supporting Evidence Library” – the plan acknowledges the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the intention is for the collected evidence, to be used by local organisations in their funding applications, to help attract much needed
investment into the town. The “Supporting Evidence Library” is publicly available online and has already been used in 2 successful funding bids for significant town centre projects.
Commenting on the most recent public consultation, lead Councillor Richard Edwards: “We received over 70 comments”.” As the Place Plan is very much a community-based plan, we worked with County Council officers to find ways of accommodating in this final draft, the amendments that people had requested. We look forward to officially launching the plan in the summer.”
The latest draft of the Place Plan and Supporting Evidence Library, can be accessed at www.newtown.org.uk/consultations/placeplan
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