Hearing sessions

Links to individual Hearing Session webpages can be found in this section.

Hearing Session 1 – Housing Numbers

Hearing Session 2 – Housing Strategy

Hearing Session 3 – Affordable Housing

Hearing Session 4 – Gypsy & Travellers

Hearing Session 5 – Welsh Language

Hearing Session 6 – Employment

Hearing Session 7 – Retail

Hearing Session 8 – Natural Environment

Hearing Session 9 – Other housing matters

Hearing Session 10 – Flooding

Hearing Session 11 – Heritage

Hearing Session 12 – Transport

Hearing Session 13 – Minerals and waste

Hearing Session 14 – Design and other matters

Hearing Session 15 – Monitoring, Review of Matters Arising Changes and any Action Points

Speaking at the examination hearings

The right to appear and make your evidence heard by the Inspectors is usually restricted to people who made representations seeking a change to the plan during the consultation on the Deposit Plan. The consultation took place between 18 February and 15 April 2025.

If you are unsure whether you will be allowed to speak, please contact the Programme Officer for advice.

Anyone has the right to attend the hearing sessions as an observer. It is helpful to inform the Programme Officer in advance if you plan to attend.

At the hearings, the Inspector considers all evidence submitted in formal representations, hearing statements and given verbally at the hearings themselves. Once the dates of the hearings have been confirmed, we will provide the programme of hearings, agendas and hearing statements.

Examination Hearings

The hearings into the Examination of the Cardiff Replacement Local Development Plan will commence at 09:30 on Tuesday 9 June 2026. The opening session will be held at:

County Hall

Atlantic Wharf

Cardiff

CF10 4UW

For all other start times, dates, locations and session information please see the Inspectors’ Draft Hearing Programme.

Observing the hearings in person

A limited number of seats will be available for members of the public who wish to observe the hearings  in person.

If you wish to attend as an observer and have not already notified the Programme Officer, please do so as soon as possible. Please include your name and the names of all those in your party.

On arrival at County Hall, please wait outside the main entrance where a Council Officer will be available to assist. Please inform them that you are attending the hearings and you will be escorted to Committee Room 1.

The Programme Officer, Kerry Trueman, will be present in the room and available to assist with any procedural queries.

Attendees are advised to arrive at least 10 minutes before the scheduled start time to allow for registration and seating.

Observing the Virtual Hearings

The virtual hearing sessions are available to the public to view.

A link will be placed on the individual hearing session webpages. These are accessible through the menu on the left-hand side of this page.

Further information about the virtual hearing sessions can be found on this page.

If you have any issues in accessing the meeting links, please let the Programme Officer know.

Week 1 Participants and Hot Seating

The Inspectors’ guidance notes explain the role of the Inspectors and the purpose of the hearings. These notes alongside the Inspectors’ agendas will help guide the discussion during the sessions.

If you are taking part in the hearings, please check the latest programme to confirm the hearing times. All participants should make sure they are listed as participants for all the sessions they expect to participate in.

If your name is missing, contact the Programme Officer straight away.

Participants are responsible for checking the timetable and being on time.

The Programme Officer will endeavour to inform the participants of any late changes to the timetable, but it is the responsibility of participants to keep themselves up to date with the arrangements and programme.

All week 1 participants require nameplates. These will be provided for you. In order to enable this, please make sure the Programme Officer has the names of your participant so she can prepare your nameplates in advance.

There is limited space at the hearing table. A number of extra seats (“hot seats”) will be available for representors who request more than one speaker.

It is intended that hot seats are only available for people who will be speaking. Where possible it is suggested that support staff are kept to a minimum due to limited seating.

Please tell the Programme Officer the names of all your participants, including hot seaters.

If you are listed as a participant or hot seater, a nameplate will be placed at your seat. This is your assigned seat – please do not move it or sit anywhere else.

Parking, directions and local transport

Parking is not available on the County Hall site due to the construction of the new Cardiff Arena. Parking is available nearby at the Red Dragon Centre – please note that charges apply. However, parking is free if you spend £6 or more at the Red Dragon Centre.

The nearest bus stop is on Lloyd George Avenue.

The nearest train station is Cardiff Bay station is also on Lloyd George Avenue. Both are a short walk from County Hall.

There are regular bus and train services. Please see Cardiff Bus for local routes or visit TravelineCymru​​​​ to plan your journey online.

Accessibility

The hearing venue is wheelchair accessible. Disabled toilet facilities are available in the assembly area. Lift access is available from County Hall reception.

If you have any specific access requirements, please contact the Programme Officer as soon as possible so that appropriate arrangements can be made.

Wi-Fi

Publicly accessible Wi-Fi is available at the venue. Please speak to the Programme Officer if you require assistance accessing the network.

Virtual Hearings

The digital sessions will be held on Microsoft Teams with all participants, including the Inspector, the Programme Officer (PO), the Council team, participants and observers logging in online.

Links to the digital sessions will be sent to all participants and also made available for other attendees on the individual Hearing Session webpages. These pages can be accessed from the Hearing Sessions webpage. If you have any difficulties in accessing the meeting links, please contact the programme officer at Kerry.trueman@cardiff.gov.uk.

Digital hearings operate in much the same way as in person hearings but with some differences to ensure they run smoothly.  All participants will be given a chance to address the points raised by the Inspectors.

Please ensure your screen name matches what is listed in the updated hearing programme (when made available shortly after May 15^th 2026).

Participants should join the hearing session at least 15 minutes before the published starting time.

As we will be working from screens, which can be intensive and tiring, there will be regular breaks, to be every 90 minutes or so.

Please keep your microphone turned off until you are invited to speak and switch it off again when you have finished speaking.

The Microsoft Teams platform provides a ‘raised hand function’, by which you will be able to indicate that you would like to speak. Observers at hearings are not able to speak and should ensure that their microphones and cameras are kept turned off throughout the session. Please could you also ensure that if you have a telephone near you, it is turned to silent or divert.

Below is a picture of Microsoft Teams controls, these may appear differently depending on what device you are using. If you are unfamiliar with Microsoft Teams, please do familiarise yourself with these before joining the hearings.

The main functions you will need to use are: –

1. raise hand – to indicate you wish to speak
2. camera on/off
3. microphone on/off (to mute or unmute yourself)
4. the red telephone symbol to disconnect at the end of the hearing session

If you lose connection, in the first instance we will adjourn, initially for 5 minutes. In that period, you should try and log back in, in the same way as you did before the event began.

If the problem persists, the adjournment may be longer and if it can’t be resolved, we may need to adjourn to another day. Please keep the PO’s contact details to hand so that you can keep them informed if you do have problems.

Please be aware that your display name will be visible to meeting participants.

Technical Issues

If you are experiencing any technical issues, please refer to this short guide to see if this may help solve the issue before contacting the Programme Officer.

If you have previously joined the session and “dropout” of the session, please rejoin by clicking the same link. Please ensure that it is the correct link for that session.

Next, try reconnecting to your Wi-Fi connection, then try to rejoin the meeting. If this doesn’t work, try switching your router on and off, then try to rejoin the meeting. If none of these options work, reboot your device, then try to rejoin the meeting.

Alternatively, try another device or try transferring from Wi-Fi to mobile data or making a Wi-Fi hotspot using a mobile phone.

If you experience electronic interference during the session, try moving your mobile phone away from your computer.

If you experience connectivity issues, try switching off other devices which share your Wi-Fi, move closer to the router or try turning off your camera to free up bandwidth.

If the link does not work at all, please try using Desktop Teams or the web-based browser version of Teams. If the link still does not please the Programme Officer.

If you are experiencing any technical difficulties do not contact the Council; the PO will try to assist in these matters but please try the suggestions above relevant to the issue you are experiencing before contacting the PO.

Cardiff Replacement Local Development Plan Examination Privacy notice

About Us

For the purposes of the Replacement Local Development Plan Examination, Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW) and Cardiff Council are joint controllers of your personal data for the purposes of ‘Data Protection Legislation.’ Data Protection Legislation means the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and all other applicable or amending legislation. PEDW’s privacy notice available on their website at  Planning casework: privacy notice | GOV.WALES for the planning casework service sets out how they will handle your personal information and should be read together with this notice.

1. How we use your data

Virtual RLDP Local Plan hearing sessions will be hosted using Microsoft Teams. If you participate in a virtual Hearing session, all the other attendees will be able to see you, listen to what you say, and see your name. In order to facilitate virtual Hearing sessions, we may collect the data collected may include personally identifiable information such as an e-mail address requested in an event invite; phone number; IP address when connected to an event through an electronic device; display name collected from the participants joining details; voice and self-image when the participant activates their camera. Metadata may be taken from joining the virtual meeting including an IP address, joining account information and browser type (if a browser is being used instead of the Microsoft Teams App).

Cookies are also collected by Microsoft when using the ‘Teams’ platform, which is covered by the Microsoft Privacy Statement.

We use your personal information primarily to assist in the examination of the Cardiff Replacement Local Development Plan. The processing of this information is necessary for the Council to undertake a public task as defined under Article 6(1)(e) of the Act, i.e. the processing is necessary for the Council to perform a task in the public interest or for its official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law, namely the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (as amended) and Town and Country Planning (Local Development Plan) (Wales) Regulations 2005 (as amended).

We may also use this information to assess the quality of our services and evaluate and improve our policies and procedures.

2. Data Sharing

Your data will be for the specific purpose as outlined above. Your details will be shared with the Council’s appointed Programme Officer for the Replacement Local Development Plan Examination and with PEDW. Your data may be shared between Council departments should it be deemed necessary due to a decision or legal process. Data will not be shared with any other organisation unless there is lawful authority to do so.

3. How Long we hold your data

Your personal data will be securely stored by the Planning department. Your personal data will be kept until the point at which the Replacement Local Development Plan is adopted or withdrawn.

4. Your rights

You have a right to access and obtain a copy of the personal data that the Council holds about you and to ask the Authority to correct your personal data if there are any errors or it is out of date. In some circumstances you may also have a right to ask the Council to restrict the processing of your personal data until any errors are corrected, to object to processing or to transfer or (in very limited circumstances) erase your personal data.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights or have any queries or concerns regarding the processing of your personal data, please contact the Data Protection Officer as indicated below. You also have the right to lodge a complaint in relation to this privacy notice or the Councils processing activities with the Information Commissioner’s Office which you can do through the website below or their telephone helpline.

Please note that these rights are not absolute and there are circumstances where they do not apply or the Council may override these rights, however, if this is the case you will be informed of this.

5. Further information

If you want more information you can contact the Council’s Data Protection Officer dataprotection@cardiff.gov.uk

You can obtain further information about these rights from the Information Commissioner’s Office or via their telephone helpline 0303 123 1113.