Here is our latest update, covering:Jobs boost promised as part of Cardiff's Replacement Local Development Plan; Building cohesive communities with new grant scheme; Innovative businesses accelerating towards a carbon neutral Cardiff; and Road closures for the Pride Cymru parade on June 17.

Jobs boost promised as part of Cardiff's Replacement Local Development Plan

More than 32,000 jobs and 26,400 new homes could be delivered in Cardiff by 2036 if Cardiff Council agrees its ‘Preferred Strategy' for the Replacement Local Development Plan (RDLP).

The Council's Cabinet will take a report on the RDLP at its meeting on Thursday, June 22. In it, Cabinet is recommended to consult on a "Preferred Strategy" which proposes a 1% annual growth rate for housing each year up until 2036. If approved, the report will then go to Full Council on June 29 for consideration.

The report and associated documents make clear that all of the 26,400 homes required in the RDLP can be delivered through existing planning permissions, or on land which is already identified for new development in the current Local Development Plan.

This means no new land would have to be found as part of the RDLP's proposed 1% growth strategy for the city to 2036.

If approved the RDLP could also see 6,000 affordable homes built across the city over the lifetime of the plan.

Cllr Dan De'Ath, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport said: "When deciding the growth rate for the new Replacement Development Plan, three options were put forward for discussion. A growth rate of 0.6%, 1% and 1.6% for each year of the plan. Robust analysis of the data and available evidence points towards 1% growth for each year being the most realistic projection. This could deliver 32,300 much needed new jobs and 26,400 new homes over the lifetime of the plan.

"The ‘Preferred Strategy' proposes that all the existing homes which already have planning permission or are identified in the current Adopted LDP will be built by 2036, as well making allowances for other sites to come forward within the city, known as "Windfall Sites". If agreed, this means that the RDLP would not need to identify any additional land for new homes. In total this 1% level of growth could deliver 6,000 new affordable homes across the city, and possibly more.

"The Preferred Strategy doesn't purely focus on housing growth, but social, economic, cultural and environmental factors to ensure we use the RDLP to control new development and develop sustainable neighbourhoods which will further enhance Cardiff as a sustainable city and help combat the ongoing threat from climate change.

"If Cabinet approves the Preferred Strategy to go out to consultation, we will ensure that we engage with as many people and groups as possible this summer, with the intention of having anew Local Development Plan fully adopted by November 2025. Following the consultation on the Preferred Strategy, the feedback will be analysed and fed into the next stage of the process which is the production of the ‘Deposit Plan'. It will then go through an additional stage of formal consultation in the summer of 2024, before it is submitted to Welsh Government for examination in May 2025."

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Building cohesive communities with new grant scheme

A new grant scheme to help build cohesive and resilient communities has been launched.

Community groups and third sector organisations across Cardiff are invited to apply for funding up to £2,000 to support schemes and initiatives that highlight and celebrate the diversity of communities across the city.

Funding can be used for a range of purposes, including holding events and activities, producing supportive literature or building capacity within a community.

Cabinet Member for Tackling Poverty, Equality and Public Health (Public Health & Equalities) Cllr Julie Sangani, said: "We're looking for schemes that focus on bringing communities together and are encouraging collaborative work.

"The aim of the scheme is to ensure people from different backgrounds in our communities have positive relationships, have a sense of mutual respect and feel safe in their neighbourhoods.

"We're keen to hear from groups and organisations about the creative ways they want to do this in their communities. It could be about promoting cultural diversity, bringing people together in cooking sessions, making community music, arts-based projects, sports, dance and more."

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Innovative businesses accelerating towards a carbon neutral Cardiff

With 23% of the 1.6 million tonnes of carbon emissions generated annually in Cardiff produced by the commercial and industrial sectors, local businesses and organisations came together today (June 13th) to learn from some of the innovative local businesses that are already significantly reducing their carbon footprint, and explore how they too can help accelerate Cardiff towards a carbon neutral future.

Hosted by Cardiff Council at Techniquest science discovery centre in Cardiff Bay, more than 100 local businesses and organisations from the public, private and third sector attended the first One Planet Cardiff Summit.

Cardiff Council Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Cllr Caro Wild, said: "Responding to climate change is at the heart of our agenda and as a council we're making good progress on reducing our own emissions, but we've always been clear that, if we're to achieve our vision of carbon neutral Cardiff, we need the whole city to be on board and make changes.

"There are already lots of local businesses, organisations, and individuals doing brilliant work to reduce their emissions - but alongside that expertise and knowledge there's also a lot of energy and enthusiasm, so getting all those people into one room today will help develop partnerships that can act as a catalyst for even more urgent action."

One of the businesses already pushing forward with decarbonisation is Euroclad Group, a Cardiff based supplier of architectural metal building solutions to the construction industry. Through its sustainability programme, Planet Passionate, it aims to create a positive impact on three big global challenges: climate change, circularity and protection of our natural world.

Read more here

Road closures for the Pride Cymru parade on June 17

Pride Cymru is back with a two-day festival planned in Cardiff City Centre on June 17 and June 18.

The parade will take place on June 17 and road closures will be put in place to ensure that the event can take place safely.

The parade will begin on Castle Street at 11am moving onto High Street, St Mary Street, back into the Hayes, onto St. John Street, along Queen Street, up Park Place, back along Greyfriars Road, onto Kingsway and finishing on Castle Street.

To facilitate the events that will be taking place, the following roads will be closed during the following times on June 17.

• Castle Street, from its junction with Westgate Street, Duke Street and Kingsway to the junction with North Road will be closed between 6am and 10.30pm (access for buses will be permitted exiting Greyfriars Road)
• From 8am until 2.30pm the following roads will be closed: High Street, St Mary Street, Wood Street, Central Square, Cowbridge Road East to its junction with Cathedral Road, Westgate Street, Quay Street, Guildhall Place, Golate, Park Street, Havelock Street and Scott Road, St Mary's Street, Mill Lane, The Hayes, St. John Street, Queen Street, Park Place, Greyfriars Road (from its junction with Boulevard De Nantes through to Kingsway).