Local Development Plan Review

Candidate Sites

Candidate sites’ register and site assessment – Deposit Plan 2 2024

Background

Pembrokeshire County Council issued a call for Candidate Sites between 22^nd March and the 14^th August 2018 and between 17th December 2018 and the 4th February 2019. A further call for candidate sites took place between 20^th July 2021 and 30^th July 2021, due to a previously unforeseen administrative error in 2017 that resulted in a small number of individuals on the Pembrokeshire County Council LDP 1 database not being notified of the opportunity to register their interest for the LDP 2 database.

Candidate Sites are sites suggested by the public for inclusion in the LDP. 515 Candidate Sites were received by the Authority for consideration, with 457 submitted during the 1^st call, 55 during the 2^nd call and 3 during the 3^rd call. All sites are published in the interactive map below.

Initial assessment

All Candidate Sites were subjected to an initial compatibility test to identify sites that are compliant with the Preferred Strategy, which was published in December 2018. A colour coding system was created to indicate the extent to which a site proposed was considered to comply with the Preferred Strategy. Details of the colour coding system for the Preferred Strategy compatibility can be found in the appendix.

Deposit Plan 2 Site Assessment

The Candidate Sites Register has been updated for the second Deposit Plan to show which sites have been taken forward into the Deposit Plan 2. This included constraints such as Highways, ecology, landscape and deliverability.  A full list of constraints and the manner in which they were assessed are set out in the Candidate site methodology. 

A critical issue is the overall level of housing required in a location and whether or not there are already sites with planning permission in that area that could help to meet that need. It should be noted that in some instances a candidate site may be partly included in the Deposit Plan 2 and part not included. In these cases, the site has been sub-divided to show the elements which fall into different categories in terms of their suitability for development or protection (alongside colour coding to assist the reader’s understanding). The register now also incorporates the site assessment report, which was previously a standalone document.

Whilst the Candidate Sites Register provides the outcome at this stage of the plan replacement process, the outcomes can change at subsequent stages of the review process. The outcomes are the view of the Council and if stakeholders have a view on these candidate sites, they must be submitted as a representation during the Deposit Plan consultation between 21st October and 16th December 2024.Please see the Deposit Plan 2 webpage for further information on how to make a representation.

 

The candidate site assessment colour categories are as follows:

Residential Categories

Red Category = residential sites that are not considered suitable for residential development. These sites have not been allocated and are outside of a settlement boundary. This includes sites considered to be constrained that are within 250m of a settlement boundary of either a service village, service centre or a main town. In some instances, candidate site promotors made multiple submission on the same land for different uses, so the successful uses fall within this category. It also contains sites previously deemed unsuitable as part of the initial assessment undertaken for preferred strategy compatibility.

Amber Category = residential sites that were not constrained but were surplus to requirement, as a suitable level of housing growth could be achieved using an alternative site deemed to be better related to the built form of the settlement.

Green Category = residential sites that were successful and included in the redeposit plan as either a housing allocation within a settlement boundary, land not allocated but within a settlement boundary, or a housing commitment as a result of previously obtaining planning permission.

Non-Residential Categories (including mixed use proposals with an element of residential)

Blue Category = non-residential sites that were successful and included in the redeposit plan as either an allocation, included within the settlement boundary but not allocated, safeguarded as a transport improvement or designated as open space.

Pink Category = non-residential sites that are not considered suitable for development due to a constraint. These sites have not been allocated and are outside of a settlement boundary.

Yellow Category = a proposed use that the Local Development Plan does not specifically allocate land for. This largely includes holiday accommodation along with leisure and tourism proposals. In addition, sites that were withdrawn from consideration are in this category. Criteria based policies have been included in the Local Development Plan to assess these proposals following adoption of the plan. The category also includes sites suggested to remain as countryside.

Details of the various reasons sites have been categorised into the different colour codes and the numbers in each category are set out in the below sub-categories.

Table 1:Candidate site assessment number categories

Criteria colour and number	Criteria summary	Detailed description
Green 3	Land not allocated as a Residential development but is within a settlement boundary	These sites were deemed to be suitable for inclusion within a settlement boundary but due to a specific issue it was not considered appropriate to identify it as a Residential Allocation. Criteria based policies can be used to assess these sites for development suitability, which could be a non-residential use.
Green 4	Residential Allocation	These sites were deemed to be suitable as a Residential Allocation that can contribute to the housing requirement that has been identified.
Green 5	Housing Commitment	This is a site that has already obtained planning permission for Residential development.
Amber 4	Residential proposal not required at this stage	A site which is not constrained but is surplus to requirement, as a suitable level of housing growth could be achieved using an alternative site deemed to be better related to the built form of the settlement.
Red 1	Residential proposal 80% within C2 Flood Zone or 80% within the 200metre SSSI/SAC buffer	Proposal is for residential use where the site area is 80% within C2 floodzone or 80% within a 200 metre buffer of a SSSI/SAC area – this is not an acceptable location for this use. This category has been carried forward from the preferred strategy initial assessment.
Red 2	Residential adjacent to a Local Village Boundary	Proposal is adjacent to a Local Village boundary.  Significant development is not being sought in settlements in this position in the Settlement Hierarchy. This category has been carried forward from the preferred strategy initial assessment.
Red 3	Any Residential proposal not within 250m of a Service Village, Service Centre, Main Town or adjacent to a Cluster Local Village	This is not within 250m of a Service Village, Service Centre, Rural Town or Main Town or adjacent to a Cluster Local Village and hence proposals for larger residential development are not supported by the Preferred Strategy in this location. This category has been carried forward from the preferred strategy initial assessment.
Red 4	A Residential proposal within 250m of a Service Village, Service Centre, Main Town or adjacent to a Cluster Local Village, which was considered to be constrained.	Following the initial assessment, the detailed assessment revealed a constraint that deemed the site to be unsuitable for Residential development. These sites remain outside of a settlement boundary.
Red 5	Residential proposal below 0.15Ha not adjacent to a settlement boundary.	A policy included in the preferred strategy has since been removed, so these sites were no longer required to be assessed.
Red 6	A residential site allocated for an alternative use.	In some instances, candidate site promotors made multiple submission on the same land for different uses, so the unsuccessful residential use fall within this category.
Blue 1	Non-Residential Allocation	These sites were deemed to be suitable to be allocated for a specific type of development. This includes Community Facility, Employment, Gypsy & Traveller, Solar Array, Strategic Employment, Specialist and Supported Accommodation.
Blue 2	Transport Safeguarded, Strategy Employment Safeguarded or Open Space Designation	These sites were deemed to be suitable to be safeguarded for a proposed transport scheme, safeguarded due to an existing Employment use or designated to protect an existing Open Space.
Blue 3	A site not allocated for non-residential development (including mixed use with an element of residential) but is within a settlement boundary	These sites were deemed to be suitable for inclusion within a settlement boundary but due to a specific issue it was not considered appropriate to identify it as an Allocation. Criteria based policies can be used to assess these sites for development suitability, which could be a non-residential or potentially a residential use.
Blue 4	A Proposal for Transport Safeguarding that has since been completed	A Proposal for Transport Safeguarding that has since been completed.
Pink 1	A non-residential proposal or mixed use including an element of residential, which was considered to be constrained.	Following the initial assessment, the detailed assessment revealed a constraint that deemed the site to be unsuitable for non-residential development. These sites remain outside of a settlement boundary.
Pink 2	A non-residential or mixed-use proposal allocated/safeguarded for an alternative use.	A site that as been allocated/safeguarded for a use not proposed in the candidate site submission.
Yellow 1	A proposed use that the Local Development Plan does not specifically allocate land for.	This largely includes holiday accommodation along with leisure and tourism proposals. Criteria based policies have been included in the Local Development Plan to assess development proposals following adoption of the plan.
Yellow 2	Sites suggested to be retained as countryside, which remain as countryside. Also includes withdraw submissions	These sites are in the countryside outside settlement boundaries. Sites that were withdrawn from consideration are also in this category.

 

The Deposit 2 LDP 2 Settlement boundaries have been included on the maps for information only.  Red boundaries indicate Service Villages, Service Centres and Towns. Blue boundaries indicate Local Villages and Cluster Local Villages. Please see the Deposit Plan 2 webpage for further information.

The Candidate site register with site assessment is available below as an interactive map and as a downloadable pdf map.

Candidate site register with site assessment – Interactive map

 

Candidate site register and site assessment - settlements A-C

Candidate site register and site assessment - settlements E-H

Candidate site register and site assessment - settlements J-L

Candidate site register and site assessment - settlements M-N

Candidate site register and site assessment - settlements P

Candidate site register and site assessment - settlements R-W