AFTER months of planning, consulting and designing the Penarth Town Place Plan was finally unveiled this week.

But local residents have raised concerns about whether the plan is needed, whether it addresses the issues that affect Penarth, and whether Penarth Town Council has the powers to implement the proposals in the plan.

During a Penarth Civic Society meeting last week and an official launch at the Paget Rooms on Tuesday, September 29, local residents eagerly gathered to see how the future of Penarth could be shaped.

They were told that the plan was broken down into 12 themes that had been identified by local residents as the most important. The top five, which were described as ‘current themes’ that should be addressed first, included better public areas, better transport choices, raising Penarth’s profile, improved links with the town centre and Esplanade, and supporting the town centre.

The remaining seven, which were described as ‘ongoing themes’ that will shape the future of the town, included the local economy, tourism, historic environment, natural environment, development and social wellbeing.

A community led Momentum Group compromising up to 12 member of the public and three members of Penarth Town Council is set to be established, with a meeting of interested parties scheduled for October 21, in a bid to bring the plan forward.

During the opening of the launch evening, which was followed by a workshop where local residents could identify their own priorities for improvement, the leader of Penarth Town Council councillor Michael Cuddy said that following the referendum in Scotland “local development is in the air” and “the time is opportune to try and capture that idea of locality”.

He added that with the Welsh Government legislating for Place Plans with the likes of the proposed Planning Bill for Wales and Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill, town and community councils would be given greater powers the in the planning process.

However, he added: “This is not a small Local Development Plan (LDP). It doesn’t deal with issues like the number of houses as we can’t deal with that because we don’t have the legislation. We can only do what we can do at the moment.”

Lyn Cadwallader, the chief executive of One Voice Wales, the national body that represents the 735 community and town councils in Wales, also spoke during the launch and gave his backing to the Place Plan.

“We feel they are very much a key component in the future planning process and will help to deliver better local services that meet the needs and aspirations of local communities,” he said.

He added that the existing planning process was “top down” from unitary to community and town councils, and that Place Plans would allow them to be more “bottom up”.

“It’s about local community and town councils, and civic societies, working together to explain what they want for their local community and managing it.”

He added that it was not about stopping development as it would not be able to stop houses being built, but could “manage the process” so that developments could boost the local economy.

He added Place Plans could be supplementary planning guidance, as opposed to statutory, that could influence developments.

The three most popular areas for improvement in the town were voted as The Esplanade, Windsor Road and Station Approach. Through better transport choices the plan also seeks to improve bus services, make walking more attractive and revisit a 20mph speed limit across town. Improved links seeks to improve connections between the town centre and Esplanade, and the gateway to the town. The plan also seeks to create more parking in the town centre and promote a regular market in the town.

During a question and answer session local residents said priorities should include increasing the amount of parking in the town centre, improving bus links around the town (with one person saying buses stopped after 6pm at The Esplanade) and improving the pavements.

People interested in joining the Momentum Group should attend a meeting at West House at 6.30pm on Tuesday, October 21.