LDP2 Preferred Strategy
4.0 Vision and Objectives
LDP2 Vision – 'Abertawe 2038'
4.1 The Vision for Swansea 2038 is expressed as 'Abertawe 2038' to embrace the County's cultural heritage and be reflective of wider aims to increase the number of Welsh speakers over the Plan period and beyond. The Vision articulates the overall aim of LDP2. It provides a positive statement about how Swansea is envisaged to develop, change, and be enhanced having regard to the Plan's strategy, policies and proposals.
4.2 The Vision exhibits a spatial, land-use emphasis and reflects the varying geographical differences that exist across the County. It identifies the unique attributes of Swansea and celebrates the distinctive features of the County's component parts, notably the contrasting juxtaposition of rural, urban, beach and other waterfront places. It also incorporates key ambitions relating to placemaking, well-being and resilience, as well as the Council's declarations of climate and nature emergencies and its aspirations for Swansea to be a focus for innovation and transformative commercial investment.
'Abertawe 2038' will be a thriving coastal city of innovation and creativity at the heart of the Swansea Bay and Llanelli National Growth Area, where people can enjoy a high quality of life in outstanding natural and built environments. Placemaking, climate resilience and biodiversity enhancement will be the foundation principles for new development, helping to create places that encourage healthy living and enhance people's well-being.
Swansea City Centre and its adjoining waterfront areas will be vibrant, mixed-use destinations offering a unique range of leisure opportunities, commercial services and open spaces alongside high density urban living. These areas will be complemented by a network of neighbourhoods of distinct character across urban and rural locations where communities can thrive, offering a range and choice of high-quality homes in safe environments, well connected to day-to-day services, facilities and employment opportunities. Residents and visitors will have good access to enhanced natural environments, including the area's spectacular coastline and rural hinterlands, and to Swansea's diverse range of cultural and heritage assets. Places will benefit from an abundance of multi-functional green infrastructure and resilient ecosystems at all scales, which alongside sustainable forms of growth and transformative investment will help support Swansea's transition to net zero
LDP2 Objectives
4.3 Emanating from the Key Issues (Chapter 3) are the LDP2 Objectives. These provide a set of ambitious but achievable, land-use based goals focussed on delivering the LDP2 Vision - 'Abertawe 2038'. They are based on a comprehensive review of the Objectives in the Swansea LDP 2010-2025 and have been formulated with the benefit of the iterative ISA framework.
4.4 As well as being consistent with the Council's corporate plans and strategies, the Objectives are reflective of national policy, including Future Wales. In order to ensure that the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 is firmly embedded and interwoven into the LDP2 Strategy, the Objectives are grouped under the summary headings of the 4 local Well-being Plan objectives.
Building Cohesive and Resilient Communities
Objective 1 : Deliver transformational change through regeneration
Enable regeneration initiatives and investments capable of delivering transformative, positive change across Swansea, with a focus on delivering key development projects within and around the central and city waterfront area. Ensure such regeneration creates a thriving waterfront city destination that celebrates and enhances the area's unique natural and built heritage assets and facilitates investment to reinforce Swansea's role and status at the heart of the Swansea Bay and Llanelli National Growth Area.
Objective 2 : Prioritise Centres First
Promote a 'Centres first' approach for major regeneration schemes and developments that deliver significant new leisure, retail, office, health, education and civic uses, maintaining the right mix of land uses within centres to support their unique and varied role, function and character.
Objective 3 : Provide for sustainable economic activity and good quality jobs
Enable development that will increase the diversity and resilience of economic activity in both rural and urban areas, including creating high value, high skilled jobs and providing opportunities for business innovation.
Objective 4 : Enhance the visitor economy
Improve, expand and diversify the County's all year-round visitor economy offer through the provision of appropriate sustainable tourism facilities and infrastructure.
Addressing Climate Change and Delivering Nature Recovery
Objective 5 : Respond to the Climate Emergency
Support measures to minimise the causes and consequences of climate change and ensure developments build resilience, adapt to the future effects of climate change, and deliver significant new and enhanced multi-functional green infrastructure and biodiversity enhancement.
Objective 6 : Respond to the Nature Emergency
Contribute towards addressing the nature emergency by protecting and enhancing the County's natural environment, landscape, townscape, and seascape, including the Gower National Landscape (AONB). Contribute towards building, restoring and sustaining resilient ecological networks and reversing biodiversity decline, including through significant new and enhanced multi-functional Green Infrastructure.
Objective 7 : Enhance the use and production of Renewable and Low Carbon Energy
Assist in moving to a low carbon economy by facilitating delivery of appropriate renewable and low carbon energy generation schemes and infrastructure, and through integrating low carbon and renewable technologies into developments.
Objective 8 : Deliver sustainable settlement growth
Promote a sustainable growth strategy that prioritises the re-use of appropriate, previously developed land having regard to the role and function of settlements.
Objective 9 : Facilitate transition to a Circular Economy
Promote sustainable waste management and infrastructure, and the transition to a circular economy.
Objective 10 : Ensure Sustainable Use of Mineral Resources
Support safeguarding and sustainable use of mineral resources and minerals infrastructure and ensure that a steady adequate supply of minerals is maintained.
Creating great places to live well for every stage of life
Objective 11 : Enhance delivery of New Homes to meet needs
Respond to the identified housing need by facilitating greater delivery of a range and choice of high-quality, climate resilient homes that are well connected to the services and facilities required to meet people's day to day needs, prioritising affordable housing delivery where possible.
Objective 12 : Embed Placemaking
Embed a placemaking approach to development at all scales, with a focus on ensuring places are positive contributors to well-being, and proposals are designed from the outset having regard to the foundation principles of the Placemaking Wales Charter.
Objective 13 : Facilitate a modal shift to Active Travel and Sustainable Transport Modes
Create environments that enable and encourage modal shift towards walking, cycling and sustainable transport.
Objective 14 : Enhance Infrastructural Capacity
Ensure sufficient physical and digital infrastructure is in place to address inequality, benefit residents and visitors, support businesses and facilitate economic growth.
Objective 15: Conserve and Enhance the Cultural and Historic Environment
Conserve and enhance the County's high quality cultural and historic environments, including safeguarding heritage assets at risk and facilitating positive change through appropriate regeneration and restoration.
Objective 16 : Promote and Safeguard the Welsh language
Contribute towards increasing the numbers of Welsh speakers in Swansea by 2050.
Enabling access to great opportunities for all from the earliest stages in life
Objective 17 : Promote Well-being and Equality
Create inclusive places that are safe and integrate high standards of amenity and environmental quality to support equality, good health and well-being.
Objective 18 : Ensure good connectivity to local services and community facilities
Ensure that communities are well connected to a range of local services, community facilities and open spaces to support good health and well-being, including opportunities for employment, healthcare, education and lifelong learning, leisure and recreation.
