Affordable housing refused over flood risk despite £26.5m seawall

Richard Youle, Local Democracy Reporter

Plans for affordable housing in a seaside community have been turned down partly due to flood risk, despite a £26.5m seawall being built a few metres away.

Housing association Beacon Cymru wants to convert first- and second-floor space, and part of an annexe, at a large Mumbles Road building although the ground-floor cafe-restaurant use would remain.

It liaised with Swansea Council’s planning department and felt its subsequent planning application, which was accompanied by a flood risk report, had addressed layout concerns.

The planning department has now rejected the scheme on four grounds including that it’s on land deemed to have the highest probability of flooding from the sea and therefore presented an unnecessary flood risk contrary to Wales-wide policy.

The council’s decision report said flats and houses could only be justified in such high-risk flood zones if they were essential to regenerating a community or meeting key economic or environmental objectives and that in this case the application hadn’t explained why it could comply with this test.

The new Mumbles seawall around 50m opposite the building opened last summer and is designed to protect dozens of homes and business from coastal flooding for the next century.

One of the residents, Marcelle Bollom, said at the time the higher seawall with its widened prom looked “amazing”. She said: “The old seawall was eroding and also looked scruffy.”

The council’s planning decision report did not mention the seawall but said environment body Natural Resources Wales, while not objecting to the planning application, said the scheme didn’t comply with flood risk policy.

The flood consequence assessment commissioned by Beacon Cymru referred to the seawall among other things and said the risk from the sea was “medium”, adding residents wouldn’t in any case be living on the ground floor.

It recommended flood-proofing measures as far as practically possible including the developer preparing an evacuation plan in case of an extreme event. It concluded that “the risks and inherent
consequences are considered to be acceptable, tolerable, and manageable”.

Planning officers were also unhappy with the living space proposed in three of the five flats and raised privacy concerns.

Beacon Cymru said the flats did meet size requirements set out under the Welsh Government housing grant which would fund the work. The council said while this was the case the same requirements meant the applicants had to show how the development could be remodelled within 10 years to provide larger living spaces. “This has not been demonstrated and it is difficult to envisage – based on the submitted floor plans – how this could be achieved,” said the decision report.

The other ground for refusal was a lack of dedicated parking, which highways officers were concerned would lead to problems in an area short of on-street spaces for residents.

Properties are expensive in Mumbles and there is a demand for affordable housing. The council supported this element of the application.

Beacon Cymru, which can appeal the decision, has however gained separate conservation area consent from the authority for the proposal.