Review of Part of the Boundary Between the County Borough of Newport and the County Borough of Torfaen in the Area of the Commun
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LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOUNDARY COMMISSION FOR WALES REVIEW OF PART OF THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN THE COUNTY BOROUGH OF NEWPORT AND THE COUNTY BOROUGH OF TORFAEN IN THE AREA OF THE COMMUNITIES OF LLANTARNAM, MALPAS AND CAERLEON REPORT AND PROPOSALS LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOUNDARY COMMISSION FOR WALES REVIEW OF PART OF THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN THE COUNTY BOROUGH OF NEWPORT AND THE COUNTY BOROUGH OF TORFAEN IN THE AREA OF THE COMMUNITIES OF LLANTARNAM, MALPAS AND CAERLEON REPORT AND PROPOSALS 1. INTRODUCTION 2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3. SCOPE AND OBJECT OF THE REVIEW 4. DRAFT PROPOSALS 5. SUMMARY OF REPRESENTATIONS RECEIVED IN RESPONSE TO THE DRAFT PROPOSALS 6. ASSESSMENT 7. PROPOSALS 8. CONSEQUENTIAL ARRANGEMENTS 9. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 10. RESPONSES TO THIS REPORT The Local Government Boundary Commission For Wales Caradog House 1-6 St Andrews Place CARDIFF CF10 3BE Tel Number: (029) 20395031 Fax Number: (029) 20395250 E-mail: [email protected] www.lgbc-wales.gov.uk Edwina Hart AM MBE Minister for Finance, Local Government and Communities The National Assembly for Wales REVIEW OF PART OF THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN THE COUNTY BOROUGH OF NEWPORT AND THE COUNTY BOROUGH OF TORFAEN IN THE AREA OF THE COMMUNITIES OF LLANTARNAM, MALPAS AND CAERLEON REPORT AND PROPOSALS 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 We, the Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales (the Commission), have completed the review of part of the boundary between the County Borough of Newport and the County Borough of Torfaen in the area of the Communities of Llantarnam, Malpas and Caerleon. The purpose of the review is to consider whether, in the interests of effective and convenient local government, the Commission should propose changes to the present boundary. The review is being conducted under the provisions of Section 55(1) of the Local Government Act 1972 (the Act) following representations to the Commission from a landowner, whose representations to the Commission in the context of this review are contained in paragraph 2.5 of the Draft Proposals Report and paragraph 5.9 of this Report. His proposal was specifically that the area of land shaded green on the map at Appendix 2 be transferred from Torfaen to Newport, thus utilising the Malpas and Brynglas Tunnels Relief road as the natural authority boundary. The Commission considered that this proposal be extended to transfer the area of land shaded brown on the map at Appendix 2 from the Community of Caerleon to the Community of Malpas, also utilising the Malpas and Brynglas Tunnels Relief Road, in this instance as the natural community boundary. These are the areas of land which have been considered in this review. 2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2.1 We propose that in the interests of effective and convenient local government, the boundary between the County Borough of Newport and the County Borough of Torfaen in the area of the Communities of Llantarnam, Malpas and Caerleon should remain unchanged. We do however propose that the boundary between the Communities of Caerleon and Malpas should be realigned in the area under review to follow the centre of the Brynglas Tunnels Relief Road from the point where the existing boundary crosses the road in the area of Grove Park to the point where the county boundary crosses the road. 3. SCOPE AND OBJECT OF THE REVIEW 3.1 Section 54(1) of the Local Government Act 1972 (the Act) provides that the Commission may in consequence of a review conducted by them make proposals to the National Assembly for Wales for effecting changes appearing to the Commission desirable in the interests of effective and convenient local government. 1 Procedure 3.2 Section 60 of the Act lays down procedural guidelines which are to be followed in carrying out a review. In line with that guidance, we wrote on 26 January 2001 to Newport County Borough Council, Torfaen County Borough Council, Cwmbran Central Community Council, the Members of Parliament for the local constituencies, the Assembly Members for the area, the local authority associations, the police authority for the area and political parties to inform them of our intention to conduct the review and to request their preliminary views. We invited the County Borough of Newport and the County Borough of Torfaen Councils to submit suggestions for changes to the boundary. We also publicised our intention to conduct the review in local newspapers circulating in the area and asked the councils to display public notices. 4. DRAFT PROPOSALS 4.1 We received representations from Newport County Borough Council; Torfaen County Borough Council; Mr M German AM, and two other interested bodies and residents. These representations were taken into consideration and summarised in our Draft Proposals published on 24 July 2001. 4.2 Our Draft Proposals recommended that the boundary between the County Borough of Newport and the County Borough of Torfaen in the area of the Communities of Llantarnam, Malpas and Caerleon should be realigned in the area under review to follow the northern edge of the Malpas and Brynglas Tunnels Relief Road. The proposed change to the boundary is shown in green on the map at Appendix 2. 4.3 We also proposed that the boundary between Malpas and Caerleon be re-aligned to follow the centre of the road as shown in brown on the map at Appendix 2. 4.4 Copies of the Draft Proposals were sent to all the councils, bodies and individuals referred to in paragraph 3.2 seeking their views. A copy was also sent to anyone who had submitted preliminary comments. By public notice we also invited any other organisation or person with an interest in the review to submit their views. Copies of the Draft Proposals were made available for inspection at the offices of Newport County Borough Council, Torfaen County Borough Council and the Commission and were also deposited at the offices of the Gwent Police Authority. 5. SUMMARY OF REPRESENTATIONS RECEIVED IN RESPONSE TO THE DRAFT PROPOSALS 5.1 We received representations from Newport County Borough Council; Torfaen County Borough Council; Paul Murphy MP; Rosemary Butler AM, William Graham AM; Gwent Police Authority and 20 other interested bodies and residents. All of these representations were considered carefully before formulating our proposals. 5.2 Newport County Borough Council telephoned to say that they would not be commenting on the Commission’s Draft Proposals Report as they felt that their initial comments objecting to the review were still relevant. 2 5.3 Torfaen County Borough Council objected to the Commission’s Draft Proposals as their position remained the same as that stated in their initial observations. They further pointed out that the link road formed part of the Llantarnam Bypass with the two roundabouts it linked providing the principal access to Torfaen from the south. The proposed realignment of the boundary would also result in access to Llantarnam Hall school being from Newport. The proposed boundary appeared to divide responsibility for maintenance of the western roundabout between Newport and Torfaen County Borough Councils which is unsatisfactory. They suggested that the realignment should rather be along the southern side of the link road and two roundabouts rather than the northern side. 5.4 Rt. Hon. Paul Murphy MP wrote in support of Torfaen County Borough Council’s position regarding this issue. 5.5 William Graham AM opposed the Commission’s Draft Proposals. He stated that he had consulted extensively with the residents in the proximity of the land in question and had not received any indication of support for the Commission’s proposals. 5.6 Rosemary Butler AM objected to the Commission’s Draft Proposals. She considered that the request to transfer the land from one authority to another was possibly a crude attempt to circumvent planning policies. She pointed out that the policy of both Newport and Torfaen County Borough Councils was to retain the area as an important gap between the two authorities. Mrs Butler also wrote to the Commission on behalf of five residents of Malpas who objected to the Commission’s Draft Proposals. The residents could see no reason for the proposed change and felt that the current boundary following the stream should be retained. 5.7 Gwent Police Authority stated that the Commission’s proposals would have no impact on policing in the area. 5.8 The Welsh Conservative Party objected to the Commission’s proposal to transfer the land from Torfaen to Newport for the following reasons: i) Neither Torfaen or Newport County Borough Council supported the proposal. ii) The land had been subject of planning applications for development twice in the past 10 years, both of which had been rejected by Torfaen County Borough Council. iii) The land is closer to Cwmbran development shopping centre than Newport Town centre and they felt that Torfaen have a greater interest in ensuring commercial development does not take place on the land for this reason. iv) The siting of housing or commercial development on the land would have a detrimental effect on the amenity value of houses in Malpas Park which overlook it. v) Since no electors were involved in the transfer it is felt that the only reason the review was requested was that it was believed that Newport Council may look more favourably on a application for planning permission than Torfaen. The Party did not feel that this was proper grounds for transferring the land from Torfaen to Newport. 5.9 A local landowner’s representative supported the Commission’s Draft Proposals. Since the construction of the Malpas Relief Road their clients have been unable to farm the area being reviewed which, as a result of this, has become derelict. Their clients welcomed the prospect of the area being brought under the same planning authority as the land adjoining it 3 to the south.