THE council has responded to my comments on their latest draft Local Development Plan, it was within the 10 appendices attached to the Cabinet report last week.

Readers may want to see the complete response which can be found on page 445 of the 3,386 paged Appendix 2.

One of my main concerns has always been the effect housing developments will have on Barry Town’s infrastructure especially the loss of businesses; amenities; facilities; townscapes, and the impact on the strategic road network.

The council’s response was: “The LDP is supported by a substantial evidence base regarding infrastructure and site deliverability. Detailed site assessments have been undertaken on the allocated sites and the Council considers these to provide a range and choice of deliverable sites. Infrastructure is therefore not considered to be a key constraining factor in delivery of growth provided for in the Deposit LDP.”

I cannot see what connection there is between the council’s conclusion and the initial two sentences and I was particularly struck by the reference to ‘a substantial evidence base’ and that infrastructure is ‘not considered to be a key constraining factor’.

One document within that ‘evidence base’ is the ‘Highway Impact Assessment’ September 2013. Pages 43 and 44 of a complex report sets out a summary of junction capacities and the strategic road junctions impacting on traffic from Barry make interesting reading: nine were judged to be already ‘over capacity’, and all 12 junctions ‘over capacity’ by 2026.

Thousands more houses and the infrastructure is not a constraining factor?

Dennis Harkus

FocusBARRY member