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Residents will have their say on sites for new homes next year, when Caerphilly County Borough Council finalises its next planning strategy.

The council is currently developing its new Local Development Plan (LDP), a blueprint which sets out where and how it wants new building work to take place.

It estimates nearly 3,000 more homes are needed in the borough to keep up with expected demand over the next ten years.

A recent consultation on the lengthy process gathered more than 1,600 comments on prospective candidate sites for developments, Cllr Philippa Leonard, the cabinet member for planning, said at a meeting on Tuesday May 20.

But specific discussion of those candidate sites is not expected until 2026, senior council officer Mark Williams told the meeting.

Cllr Judith Pritchard claimed residents “didn’t know what was going on” during the most recent consultation exercise, which focused on the preferred strategy of the new LDP – but also invited contributions on candidate sites.

These included hundreds of comments regarding three sites in Caerphilly town – south of Rudry Road (329 responses), near Princes Avenue (171 responses) and in Energlyn (64 responses) – as well as 233 responses regarding a proposed site in Penpedairheol.

Planning services manager Ryan Thomas said there would be “ample opportunity for the public” and councillors to comment on all candidate sites at a later stage.

Mr Williams said the recent consultation was “only a step in the process”, and “there will be a list of candidate sites that will be consulted upon fully”.

“There will be another, more detailed consultation on candidate sites in the new year,” he added.

The council’s preferred strategy will focus on new developments around the largest towns in the county borough, rather than seeking to create a major settlement in a new site.

According to a council report, the Welsh Government has confirmed this strategy is in “general conformity” with national guidance.

At the meeting, Cllr Kevin Etheridge sought assurances the council would redevelop brownfield land rather than build on previously untouched sites.

Mr Thomas said planning criteria includes a “preference for brownfield site developments” and this would be the council’s “priority”.

Mr Williams added it could be “difficult to get developers generally to build on smaller sites”.

However, smaller brownfield sites may not be included in the replacement LDP because of their size, Mr Thomas said.

But he acknowledged brownfield sites could be “more challenging” to develop, owing to issues such as contamination, and “it does mean we will need to allocate greenfield sites” as well.