Ceredigion County Council website

On the 25th April 2013 Ceredigion County Council adopted the Local Development Plan (LDP). This supersedes the Dyfed Structure Plan and Unitary Development Plan.

The LDP does not provide a housing allocation for every settlement. In the LDP settlements in Ceredigion have been split into 4 categories:

1. Urban Service Centres (USC): are the following settlements Aberaeron (Llwyncelyn), Aberystwyth, Cardigan, Lampeter, Tregaron, Llanydysul, Newcastle Emlyn / Adpar
2. Rural Service Centres (RSC): include large settlements such as, Aberporth/Parcllyn, Llanon and Talybont (see LDP Settlement Names list)
3. Linked Settlements are 91 settlements that have been defined as such for the purposes of the LDP and are affiliated (for planning policy purposes) to a USC or RSC settlement (see LDP Settlement Names list).
4. Other Locations – these are all settlements, hamlets and geographical areas which have not been specifically named or defined as either a Service Centre (Urban or Rural) or a Linked Settlement for the purposes of the LDP (that is, not named on list LDP Settlement Names).

The County is geographically sub-divided into 22 Settlement Groups for the purposes of the LDP. Each Settlement Group is made up of a USC or RSC, Linked Settlements and Other Locations. Collectively each Settlement Group has been attributed an number of housing units which come potentially forward during the plan period (2007 -2022). The majority of this development would need to come forward within the USC or RSC in line with the Strategy.

The Strategy of the LDP is that over the plan period 51% of new housing development across the County will occur in the USCs, 24% in the RSCs and 25% LinkedSettlements and Other Locations. For each Settlement Group the LDP sets out a % split between the Service Centre and the Linked settlements and Other Locations in order to meet the overall Countywide target of 51%:24%:25%. The Settlement Group % split will vary between Groups.

The majority of housing development would therefore need to come forward within the USC or RSC in line with the Strategy.

A monthly position statement will be provided on the website in relation to the following:

All locations (including Linked Settlements):

• Figure A: LDP Housing Figures: this document breaks down commitments (outstanding consents and completions) on a Settlement Group, Service Centre and 'Linked Settlement and Other Locations' basis from April 2007 to the end of the previous month (Policies S01-S04)
• Figure B: LDP Housing Figures (graphs): illustrates the commitments in terms of where those commitments are as of the end of the previous month compared to where the LDP projects the commitments would need to be in order fro the LDP Strategy to be delivered by the end of the Plan period (2022) (Policies S01-S04)

Documents A & B above will be used in the determination of all planning applications related to housing (including Linked Settlements). The documents will be updated on a monthly basis and therefore the figures may vary from month to month.

Linked Settlements Only:

• Figure C: LDP Housing Figures in Linked Settlements: this document lists all the commitments in the named Linked Settlements against a threshold (12%) up to which could be acceptable (subject to other parts of Policy S01 and S04 being met) based on the number of houses in the settlement at 2007. This document will be used to determine whether the proposal accords with Policy S04
• Figure D: LDP Housing Figures 5yr Rolling Linked Settlements: this document sets out figures for Linked Settlements in terms of a rate of development of (4%) up to which could be acceptable (subject to other parts of Policy S01 and S04 being met) in any 5 year rolling period (Policies S04 & DM01)
  Documents C & D above will be used only when development is in a Linked Settlement and will be in addition to documents A & B in those instances.

If you would like to see the policies referred to above that are contained within proposed in the Local Development Plan you can access the LDP documents here.

The housing numbers are continually being updated so some variation may be seen on a day to day basis if you require figures on a specific date please contact the Planning Policy team ldp@ceredigion.gov.uk.

For previous monthly figures please contact Planning Policy Team at ldp@ceredigion.gov.uk or Phone: 01545 572123