What is the Welsh Government doing to ensure that housing development in rural areas meets local needs, particularly in terms of affordability and preventing the loss of agricultural land?
In order to assess their housing requirements, local authorities are required by the Welsh Government to undertake a Local Housing Market Assessment (LHMA) for their area and to keep the information updated. The outcomes of the LHMA form a key element of the evidence base for LDPs. LHMAs are carried out through the use of a standardised and mandatory on-line tool provided by the Welsh Government which assesses both ‘newly arising need’ and ‘existing unmet need’.
The details of the LHMA process are set out in Welsh Government guidance for local authorities which is available on our website. The latest LHMA for each local authority should be available on their respective websites
Best and Most Versatile Agricultural Land should be conserved as a finite resource for the future. Considerable weight should be given to protecting such land from development. It should only be developed if there is an overriding need for the development, and either previously developed land or land in lower agricultural grades is unavailable, or available lower grade land has an environmental value