News. . . .
July 18th, 2011
Local Development Plan – Exhibition to be held in Newcastle Emlyn
Carmarthenshire County Council will be holding a public exhibition of its proposals for the new Local Development Plan in the Church Hall opposite Holy Trinity Church on Monday 18 July, with doors open to the public from 1pm until 7pm. Council officers will be on hand to answer any questions.
The proposals will have a major impact on Newcastle Emlyn itself and on the county as a whole, with plans to build thousands and thousands of new homes. A public consultation is now running until 19 August, and everyone is encouraged to submit their views. If you care about how our towns and villages look, about the environment and the countryside, the Welsh language and the impact on our schools, hospitals, roads and other services, please go along and make your voice heard.
The response from town councillors on this issue has been rather mixed, and as things stand it seems that it will be unlikely that the Town Council itself will take a lead in voicing any concerns.
Questions which people may like answers to include:
- Are there any concrete plans to upgrade water and waste water systems in town to cope with potentially large numbers of new houses?
- Are there any concrete plans to improve the road network? At least one of the sites is served by a single track lane already in constant use.
- Is the council aware of any problems with land stability affecting some of the proposed sites? You might add, if not, why not?
- If the sites along the Carmarthen Road have been selected against the wishes of the landowner and almost certainly against the wishes of existing residents, why has the council nevertheless put them forward when it would seem there is no prospect of development?
- Who is the independent planning expert who will assess responses received under the consultation? Is it a firm of consultants who have been retained by the council and have enjoyed a close working relationship with it for many years?
- Have the forward planning officers taken matters such as schools, employment and medical services into account?
No doubt, there will be many more questions apart from those.
