Powys Unitary Development Plan - Denbighshire Local ...

Powys County Council UDP 2001-2016 Adopted March 2010
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infrastructure, each settlement has been allocated an appropriate amount and mix of
development on an appropriate range of sites.
Large Villages
2.4.19 Large villages may contain a few key facilities and services but they do not
provide a full range and they are less well served than Key Settlements. Job
opportunities may be limited but in some instances they offer a few future options for
new employment developments.
2.4.20 Large villages are important in their own community area, which may include
several smaller villages, but development demands and opportunities are usually less
than those in Key Settlements. A similar process to that described above has been
used to identify appropriate allocations for new development.
Small Villages
2.4.21 Small villages provide the focus of rural living for much of the remaining
population within Powys. They have little scope for new development, but
nonetheless, they fulfil an important community and social function in their own area,
which may include several smaller rural settlements. As a means of ensuring the
sustainability of local communities and the future viability of rural villages in Powys,
limited housing growth may be acceptable within these settlements. Development
demands and opportunities are less than those in Large Villages.
Rural Settlements
2.4.22 These are small clusters of just a few dwellings in a rural setting. One of the
key features of a Rural Settlement is that there are often significant gaps between the
dwellings. As it is not desirable to encourage general or speculative development in
such settlements, it would therefore be inappropriate to draw a settlement limit around
them. They have few if any facilities and are only suited to just one or two dwellings to
provide affordable local needs housing, in order to support the local community. These
would normally be accommodated by the sensitive filling-in of small gaps, but on
occasion and subject to the character of the surroundings, some minor extension to
such groups of dwellings may be appropriate.
Countryside
2.4.23 A high proportion of the housing in Powys lies outside of any recognised
settlements. The large number of farms and smallholdings is self-evident, but there
are also very many other dwellings, in ones and twos along rural roads and country
lanes, few of which need a countryside location because of employment reasons.
Powys has a landscape of consistently high quality throughout its area. This is one of
our main assets and it is the basis of one of our other main employment sectors,
tourism.
2.4.24 For the above reasons and because a sporadic pattern of development is
inherently unsustainable, developments in the countryside will be strictly controlled
and should only be allowed for the benefit of the rural economy. However, agriculture
needs special help to restructure and diversify and rural communities need to be able
to develop and expand local enterprises to safeguard their vitality and viability.
Consequently in instances where workers in agriculture, forestry or other appropriate
Part One Strategic Policies 22