Housebuilder appeals against refusal to build hundreds of homes

Richard Youle Local Democracy Reporter

A housebuilder has appealed against a refusal of planning permission for 216 homes, and council officers have said they can’t defend it.

This means that councillors will have to step up to the plate when a Welsh Government-appointed planning inspector begins taking evidence.

The appellants are Persimmon Homes and the owner of land in Gowerton, Swansea where the housebuilder applied to build 216 homes. A full application for costs has also been submitted as the appellants considered the council, through its planning committee, acted unreasonably in turning down outline permission for the homes off Fairwood Terrace.

The committee – made up of councillors – narrowly voted against a planning officer recommendation for approval when it met to discuss the application in September. Several councillors on the committee were unhappy with the proposed access from the busy Fairwood Terrace-Victoria Road junction and the impact of extra traffic on a congested road network. There was also concern about loss of trees.

Impact

The committee met a month later, in October, to firm up its reason or reasons for refusal and decided it should be on the grounds of increased congestion and its impact on householders. A planning officer said the council would have difficulty, in his view, defending it if it went to appeal.

Six months on and the planning department has confirmed that an appeal has been lodged, and that officers won’t be able to defend it as it would contravene their profession’s code of conduct as members “must not make or subscribe to any statements or reports which are contrary to their own genuine professional opinions”.

At a planning committee meeting on March 4 it was said that Gowerton’s two ward councillors, Dai Jenkins and Susan Jones, and an objector called Carl Jones, would defend the appeal, and that the preferred method would be by way of a hearing rather than written representations or an inquiry. Some guidance will be prepared on their behalf, including officer help in drafting a rebuttal to the full application for costs.

“Deeply disappointed”

Another councillor, Lyndon Jones, who lives in Gowerton but represents another area, spoke against the 216-home plan at the initial committee meeting and told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he would also defend the appeal. The planning inspector will decide what type of appeal it will be.

The plans put forward by Persimmon Homes and Urban Style Land Ltd included a park and ride hub with 50 parking spaces and 100-odd bike spaces to serve the adjacent Gowerton railway station, plus traffic lights at the Fairwood Terrace-Victoria Road junction, and a new pedestrian crossing on both roads.

The 216 properties would consist of 149 two, three and four-bedroom houses and 67 flats. A total of 881 letters were submitted to the planning department objecting to the application, plus a petition with 317 signatures.

Persimmon Homes said it would consider its next steps when the committee confirmed its refusal last October. Speaking at the time, it said: “We are deeply disappointed by the planning committee’s refusal of our scheme, especially as the site is part of Swansea’s local development plan and had the full backing of the council’s planning officers and hierarchy.”