Warning of legal challenge if consultation on city’s future is not undertaken correctly
Consultation “flawed from the start”, say senior councillors
Cardiff council stands accused of failing to hear people’s views on the future of the city - especially those of children
Cardiff Council’s Environmental Scrutiny Committee has issued a damning report on the failure of the Council to properly consult on the future of the city in its replacement local development plan (RDLP).
In a damning report on Cardiff council’s consultation on its future plan for the city, a senior group of cross party councillors have found that: "the consultation process was ... flawed from the start”, citing in particular a failure to produce a user-friendly guide and a glossary of terms until months into the process.
The hard hitting report, produced by a cross-party group of councillors, makes a series of strong criticisms. These include:
Expressing concern regarding the consultation approach
noted the significant risk that, if the next stage of consultation is not undertaken correctly, there could be legal challenge for the Council.
Given this, the councillors questioned whether the Cardiff Council had considered going back to Welsh Government and asking for an extension of the consultation period as it would enable the Council to reach more people and undertake a better consultation
The councillors also noted that:
the document is largely silent on protected characteristic groups other than the Gypsy and Traveller Community
The consultation was generally based around a framework of “here are the options we have decided upon, which option do you want?
In evidence to the committee, the Welsh Government agency, National Resources Wales, have made some stern criticisms of the council, saying:
There is a need for clarity on how the RLDP defines growth
There is a need to review the population projections used in the RLDP.
This is a significant intervention, because in the past, Cardiff Council and the Planning Inspectorate have made inaccurate estimations of the levels of growth in the city, leading to significant housing developments on the edge of the city, which may not have reflected real demand.
In a serious blow to the Council’s aim of being recognised as a Child Friendly City, the report notes that it is “unclear on how the Council intend to engage children and young people” on the future of the city.
In their summary, the councillors call for far greater scrutiny of the replacement local development plan, recommending that:
Scrutiny be prioritised in future stages of the RLDP, with early sight of RLDP consultation documents, to enable their feedback to be considered prior to them being finalised for publication.
All political groups are provided with an early draft of RLDP consultation documents for consideration before being finalised, so that they can also provide comments and suggest amendments for incorporation.