Proposals aimed at improving public transport connections for new developments in Wales could have unintended consequences that would affect many areas, experts have said

Parts of Wales could become no-go areas for developers if planning rules demand public transport at each future development, property experts suggest.

An Assembly committee has put forward proposals to make Wales less dependent on cars by siting new homes, workplaces and facilities in easy reach of bus or train connections.

The Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) said the proposal was timely, because providing public transport retrospectively may be impractical.

However, bus services are shrinking after the Welsh Government cut funding by 25%, and some developments may not be viable if they have to cover the cost of new bus or rail services as well as affordable housing and other “goodies”, say critics.

The Business and Enterprise Committee made 25 recommendations after its inquiry into integrated transport.

It said forthcoming planning reforms should stipulate that “all major development schemes” must include “adequate public transport provision and actively promote sustainable, integrated public transport or else they will be refused planning permission”.

Chartered surveyor Nigel Jones, whose estate agency John Francis covers south-west Wales, said: “In rural areas, you would have to question whether that’s realistic or idealistic.

“If the council want development in these areas and houses to be built, then the council should be coming in and introducing subsidised public transport. I don’t think they’ve got the funding for that.”

The committee highlighted a suggestion from the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport that for planned developments around Cardiff disused rail lines should be reopened or dedicated bus ways introduced, using Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act.

This allows councils to require developers to pay towards local services and facilities as conditions of planning consent.

“Section 106 agreements can be used to get contributions out of developers to make sure that those transport schemes are put in place at the beginning, and not thought about afterwards, when we have a lot of additional cars on the road,” said the CILT.

Mr Jones said he doubted it was feasible for property developers to fund more under S106, which already covered allocations for affordable housing and local services and amenities.

“I don’t see how they can square that circle by always adding to the [burden on] developers, who will have to take it off their [profit] margins. That means they will be able to afford to pay less to the landowner. It may end up that the landowner isn’t willing to sell, if these are new conditions being put on new development.”

Chartered surveyor Andrew Gardner, managing director of Cooke and Arkwright, said the availability of integrated transport could add value to new developments, but the premium such property would command might fall short of the cost of providing such transport.

“The public sector has already come up with quite a list of goodies which it wants in return for planning permission,” he said.

“If a scheme that’s being considered is suddenly having to bear an additional cost, or share of a cost, to provide an initiative, that will affect the land value. The developer won’t pay for it.

“There comes a point when many landowners will say to a developer, ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t think I will bother selling any more land.’”

Growing areas of Wales could fail the “adequate public transport” test because of 25% cuts in bus funding for councils and operators. Many services have been axed or reduced over the past 14 months, with more cuts to come.

Veteran bus manager Bev Fowles, of South Wales Transport, said planning rules should be tightened to stop roads in new housing estates being unsuitable for buses.

But he claimed the committee’s vision for integrated transport was incompatible with bus funding cuts. “We’re so far away from this, can’t we just take a small step first, and build up to the bigger stuff?”

Kay Powell, the TCPA’s representative for Wales, said planning policy already highlighted that measures to promote walking, cycling and public transport should feature in new developments at the outset.

“Examples including Bodnant Welsh Food Centre and major residential developments in

Cardiff and elsewhere show that the policy is not yet being fully achieved in practice,” she said.

“Retro-fitting footways, cycle routes, bus services and, if they are available, rail services is unlikely to be a realistic option, so it is timely that the Enterprise and Business Committee is

stressing the importance of long-term land-use and transport planning.

“It is not sensible to cut corners just because a proposed development is in a rural area or because we are going through difficult economic times. This could lead to increased costs in the longer term.”

Bodnant Welsh Food Centre, in the Conwy Valley, received £3m of Welsh Government match funding and opened last summer. The nearby station has one train every three hours, and no Sunday trains except in summer.

The centre’s opening inspired Express Motors to devise a daily bus service which, from 10 June, would have linked the centre to Llandudno and Betws-y-Coed at least once each hour on weekdays and Saturdays, according to the timetable published by Conwy council.

The plan has been dropped because the 25% funding reduction is forcing Express Motors to make cuts and take fewer commercial risks.

Would the National Botanic Garden of Wales exist today, generating local employment and bringing international plaudits to Wales, if the original project had to be easy to reach by public transport?

Today it would arguably fail the “adequate public transport” test, despite offering half-price entry for people who arrive by bus.

Day visitors have just two buses per day, leaving Carmarthen at 10.05am or 1.25pm. Daytrippers from South-east Wales would have to leave Cardiff Central at 8.03am or be content with arriving at 1.47pm, less than three hours before the last bus back.

Dr Rosie Plummer, the NBGW’s director, said there were historic reasons going back to 1580 for the NBGW’s location. Had the “adequate public transport” rule existed when the NBGW gained planning consent, the project may still have happened because the promoters might have envisaged buses being laid on, she said, adding: “Now that’s unthinkable.”

The proposed planning rule was a “fine ambition” but she said: “Is it deliverable? If you only take that metric of only putting things where there’s adequate public transport, the whole of rural Wales will remain uninhabitable.

“I think there’s a danger that commercial developers might say they will pay for public transport when they build an out-of-town shopping centre, but how long do they pay for it and what happens if there’s an economic downturn?”