‘Bonkers’ affordable homes refused

Bruce Sinclair – Local Democracy Reporter

A call to build four £400,000 homes to all be occupied by members of the same family was refused by county planners after members were told calling them “affordable” was “bonkers”.

In an application before Ceredigion County Council’s August development management committee Celyn, Sara and Carys Jukes sought permission for the four ‘discount-for-sale’ three and four-bed detached homes in a line at Drws Y Coed, Cae Morgan Road, near Cardigan, currently an agricultural field next to an existing family home.

A supporting statement by agent Harries Planning Design Management said: “The applicants are the three daughters and sister of Mr Jukes. The three daughters currently reside at Drws Y Coed with their parents, who run Mark Jukes Containers, a very successful family business in Cardigan.

“The three sisters (Celyn, Sara and Carys) have lived at Drws Y Coed since birth. Ms Celyn Jukes is a secondary school teacher, Ms Sara Jukes works as a waitress at Yr Hen Printworks in Cardigan and Ms Carys Jukes is a sales executive at In the Welsh Wind.

“Finally, Mrs Mandy Jones (sister of Mr Jukes) is a hairdresser and runs a successful hair salon in Cardigan. Mandy has lived in Ceredigion (Glynarthen) for approximately 30 years, but she is currently living in rented accommodation in Blaenffos.

“Due to their personal and family ties to Caermorgan Road, it is such that they seek to build homes on the land to the rear of Drws Y Coed. This will provide independent living accommodation where they can settle and continue to live, work and raise a family within their local community.”

Concerns

The application said property searches have been undertaken for alternative homes locally, in the range of £300,000-£350,000, most in need of modernisation or repair.

The application was supported by Cardigan Town Council, but concerns have been raised by members of the public on the impact on neighbouring properties.

The application was recommended for refusal on grounds including it went against planning policy as it is in an open countryside location, the application “fails to demonstrate that the proposed occupiers of the dwellings are in real affordable housing need, with their search focusing on properties up to a value of £350k,” and “there is no real need for the proposed occupiers to live at the application site, and is rather a desire to live close to the family”.

Speaking at the meeting, Celyn Jukes said the Welsh-speaking family hoped to raise their children “in the community that we live in”.

She told the committee of her surprise of earlier coverage of the plans in the local press, the Cambrian News and the Tivyside Advertiser, adding: “But it was pleasing that a lot of people had been supportive of this application.”

An appeal for the scheme to be backed was made by local county councillor Cllr Sian Maehrlein, who said the applicants were “a local family trying to stay in Cardigan,” and that, while the site was outside Cardigan, it was connected by a walking distance footpath, and that views from the road of the development would be “almost non-existent”.

Head of planning for Ceredigion Russell Hughes-Pickering told members: “I don’t understand why we’re having much of a discussion,” conceding to members he could understand their sympathies in providing housing for local applicants.

‘Not affordable’

However, he raised serious concerns about the size and scale of the application, with houses proposed in the circa £400,000 range, describing them as “blatantly not affordable”.

“Anyone looking at the application and thinking they are affordable houses is bonkers, these are not affordable houses: the size of the properties, the size of the plots, the value of the houses; they are just not affordable.”

He added: “My genuine feeling is we should refuse this application; there is no way you can look at this proposal and come to the conclusion these are affordable houses. They are not, they are four very large houses and four very extensive houses; if this is about looking after local people we’ve got to look about looking after local people ‘in the realm’.

“The majority of people looking for affordable houses are not looking at houses in the £400,000 bracket, and that’s why we have policies that look at the size of the dwellings.”

Councillor Maldwyn Lewis suggested a site visit in order to view the plans in greater detail.

The call to defer the application, pending a site inspection panel visit, was defeated by five votes to six, with refusal later overwhelmingly backed.