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Bridgend Sustainability
Bridgend County is located in the South of Wales. The area is near the major cities such as Swansea to the west and Cardiff to the east. Sustainability can be defined as a balancing act, if an area is sustainable, it keeps it afloat and manageable within the current state of the economy. Sustainability is important because without sustainability, areas cannot thrive. If these areas aren’t sustainable, they will become run down and neglected as they must grow alongside the growing economy and society. Sustainability can be interpreted in a number of ways but all will influence a high number of people in a multitude of ways; local, national and regional scale. Bridgend is continually growing and evolving as a County, as a result of this measures will need to be put in place to ensure the area is not to be left behind the rest of the country.

Contents
 * 1) Economic Sustainability
 * 2) Social Sustainability
 * 3) Cultural Sustainability
 * 4) References
 * 5) External Links

Economic Sustainability
The general definition of economic sustainability is the ability of an economy to support a defined level of economic production indefinitely. Economics is a big driver factor for areas like Bridgend; for example, you must have money to fund to maintain protected areas and develop areas. Bridgend has a lack of high wage services jobs but however, the retail sector provides a large proportion of employment. Bridgend is especially known for its beautiful coastline and historical sites. These sites do not directly bring in money but through other services which tourists might use, this can boost the local economy. This is an example of the multiplier effect. The Bridgend Designer Outlet is a high profile and major draw attracting 3.8m visits a year. Even though this area is a major draw, eating out and shopping are not a major asset for the area, this may be because people are choosing to visit elsewhere. There have been multiple local strategies put in place for Bridgend. A few of these include: The Bridgend County Tourism Strategy, Bridgend Community Strategy and Economic Development Plan. The Bridgend County Tourism Strategy 2011-2016 aims to develop ‘a thriving visitor economy which celebrates the unique strengths’ of Bridgend, whilst also providing and supporting jobs. They also want to generate business opportunities and improves the range of amenities available for visitors and local people. The plan states that in 2008, £275 million was spent by day and staying visitors. This impacts across a large range of economic sectors. The designer outlet centre is an important hot spot as it accounts for 49% of direct visitor spending. The plan also mentions how important the multiplier effect is, visitor spending supports an estimated over 4700 full time jobs. Alternatively, the plan states that ‘urban areas have limited appeal and some areas are run down. They are not intrinsically attractive or of great heritage interest’. This may be because of its proximity to Cardiff; people are choosing to go to the bigger and better shopping centres which as a result has led to some areas of Bridgend being neglected. There are also many funding streams which tourism projects can use. One which is specific to the EU is the EU Convergence funding, the total budget for Wales is £60m. The result of Brexit could affect this stream and local tourism projects badly. Spatial planning refers to the approach and methods taken by the private sectors and the public to influence the distribution of activities and people in areas of various scales. This is an important as it is all about management and control of these areas. The Bridgend Local Development Plan 2006-2021 also believe spatial planning is an important element when it comes to sustainability and development. ‘The Plan aims to deliver sustainable development; build upon and add value to the Wales Spatial Plan and to guide growth and change.’ Their vision is delivered through four strategic objectives. These objectives aim to address the local, regional and national issues that the area is facing. These objectives are: ‘1. to produce high quality sustainable Places. 2. To protect and enhance the Environment. 3. To spread prosperity and opportunity through Regeneration. 4. To create safe, healthy and inclusive Communities.’ A problem with their objectives is that they want to tackle regional and national issues, but they are unable to this due to it being out of their control and they do not have enough influence as a borough to fix all the problems within the nation. Another important goal is to ‘promote sustainable and attractive valley settlements with improved access to jobs and services.’ This goal is important because promoting sustainable settlements encourages an economically stable and sustainable Borough.

Social Sustainability
Social Sustainability includes welfare provisions, housing and employment. These aspects however will often interlink and affect one another. Bridgend is attempting to ensure social sustainability in a variety of ways. The Bridgend Local Development Plan (2006-2021) revised 2013 edition, highlights how the importance of population growth is recognised as it affects employment growth, retail and community services. Bridgend County has one of the highest rates of employment in South East Wales. Through the Local Development Plan, Bridgend Council are aiming to maintain these rates and ensuring continued investment in the area by developers. In order to attract investors to the area, Bridgend has identified 120 hectares of land which the Council deem as suitable for employment. It is hoped that this land will provide a variety of uses for various industries. This balanced selection should allow for an improvement in the local economy as it attracts higher value employment uses while maintaining the manufacturing base to the economy. This is predicted to be a major driver in economic growth for the local economy for the future however it is not a guarantee. In the revised edition, the Council conducted a review of all existing employment sites of the area in order to ensure they were continuing the development opportunities that were envisaged when the plan was originally put forward in 2006. The review found that the employment levels had stagnated, and the supply of employment land had reduced. Although, the land is now able to be repurposed for other community services such as residential land. The majority of the land put forward by the plan are designated Greenfield sites. In order to remain in line with other national policies, the Council have committed to reviewing each development proposal on Greenfield sites carefully. The Development Plan estimates a large population growth between 2006 and 2021. To combat this growth, the Council have plans to build around 650 dwellings per year over this 15 year period. The homes will vary in size and cost. The Council have taken into consideration how the lack of good quality yet affordable housing has a detrimental effect on the local population’s health and well-being. As part of the Well Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act, the Welsh Governments Ministers have a duty to promote sustainable development. As part of this Act, it states that everyone has the right to affordable homes as owner, possible part owner or tenant. Despite the proposals set out in the Development Plan, Bridgend is failing to meet the Well Being of Future Generations Act as the Bridgend LHMA update 2012 indicates a possible annual shortfall of 1,762 affordable residential properties per annum. Bridgend Council does recognise this throughout the Development Plan, the Council hopes that the provisions currently underway will be a start for the area which will allow appropriate targets to be set in future development plans. As the number of dwellings in an area increases so does the need for social provisions. The term ‘social provisions’ for the community covers a wide range of topics from play areas for children to bus routes and local doctors’ surgeries. These provisions play a key role in the health and wellbeing of a community as the provisions are seen to add to the quality of life for the area. Having access to these basic services ensures for an inclusive yet sustainable community.

Cultural Sustainability
Bridgend is culturally sustainable due to the fact that they produce fresh local product such as crops and dairy, which can be sold directly to the public. Before 1970 local famers produced many produce in Bridgend. This meant that the people in Bridgend were buying product locally, which was sustainable to the area. This also brought a sense of national identity to the area as it has a history of farming, food and agriculture. The states that there are many factors influencing people’s choice to start buying local produce some of which are “ protection of the environment, perceived health benefits, and better quality and fresher products” however they also state that the main factor of this is “a desire to support local farmers and the local economy” along with this (as cited in ) supports this by saying that “ people believe that buying local food is good for the economy and beneficial for rural area.” Both of these show that an increasing amount of people are understanding that buying local food has many benefits to the area and also makes the area more sustainable. There has also been an increasing amount of famers markets and farm shops in Bridgend which many local people have been purchasing produce from. These farm shops and farmers markets allow food to be sold directly to the public and stopped imported food being brought reducing global trade. By reducing their global trade they are also reducing their global footprint and the amount emissions they make due to the fact less food will have to be imported to Bridgend as local produce is being brought hence less emissions are made as less food will have to travel to be imported. It was found that approximately one third of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are produced by the global food system. Bridgend is sustainable, as they have decreased the amount of emissions they are producing by the local people buying local produce and also as they are following their national identity by once again becoming dependent on farming fresh local produce in the area.