What is a Candidate Site?
A Candidate Site is a site submitted to the Council by an interested party (e.g. developer or landowner) for potential inclusion as an allocation in the Replacement Local Development Plan (LDP).
It is important to note that the submission of a Candidate Site does not represent a commitment on the part of the Council to take sites forward into the Replacement LDP.
Land allocated in the current LDP may not automatically be included in the Replacement LDP. Consequently, these sites should also be submitted as Candidate Sites.
What types of sites can be submitted?
Proposers are welcome to submit sites for a range of uses that the LDP makes provision for, this could include:
- Housing
- Employment
- Retail
- Community
- Facilities
- Tourism and Recreation
- Renewable Energy
- Minerals
- Gypsy and Traveller sites
- Transport Infrastructure
- Waste
- Education
- Health and Social Care
- Biodiversity
- Green infrastructure
Call for Candidate Sites
The Call for Candidate Sites is an important step in Council’s evidence gathering process to inform future drafting of the Replacement LDP. Proposers are required to provide suitable evidence to robustly demonstrate the sustainability, deliverability and financial viability of sites.
Detailed evidence upfront and early in the plan making process, as part of the Candidate Site stage, is essential to inform the delivery of the Preferred Strategy and subsequent plan stages.
A Candidate Site Guidance Note (pdf) and Candidate Site Assessment Methodology (pdf) have been prepared, and updated for the Preferred Strategy stage, to assist Candidate Site proposers with their submission, providing further details on the types of sites that are likely to be acceptable and the information that is required to be submitted in support of their site proposal.
A Call for Candidate Sites Constraints Map has also been created to assist site proposers and can be accessed via Council’s My Maps system under ‘Newport Maps’ and listed in the ‘Map Categories’.
Consultation (now closed)
The Call for Candidate Sites consultation period ran from 30 June 2021 to 27 August 2021.
As part of the Preferred Strategy consultation, which ran from 25 October to 20 December 2023, additional Candidate Site proposals were able to be submitted for consideration, as set out in the Development Plan Manual (March 2020).
Candidate Site proposals received within the consultation periods will be considered for inclusion within the RLDP with results to be publicised at the Deposit Plan stage.
Development Viability Model (DVM)
Viability is a key consideration which will inform whether a Candidate Site will be successfully included in the Replacement LDP. Planning Policy Wales (PPW) requires that a viability assessment be provided for Candidate Sites to demonstrate whether delivery of the site is viable or not. Failure to submit a viability assessment may result in a proposed site not being included in the deposit LDP.
The Council has worked in partnership with other Councils across the region, alongside Town Planning and Development consultants Burrows-Hutchinson Ltd, to establish the Development Viability Model (DVM) assessment tool. The DVM has been created as a comprehensive, user-friendly model that can be used by site promoters and decision makers for the purpose of assessing the financial viability of a development proposal.
For further information on the DVM and how to obtain a site specific copy please click here.