Natural Resources Wales investigating pollution concerns from controversial housing development

Rhiannon James, local democracy reporter

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) is investigating water run-off from a controversial housing development in Caerphilly.

A landowner in Hendredenny has raised concerns of the potential pollution of her land as a result of Redrow’s De Clare Gardens development. But, Redrow has said it has all the “necessary consents” in place.

The resident who declined to be names, and who owns land to the south west of Ty Isaf Farm, said: “I have tried dealing with them for six months but it’s got to the stage where there is such obvious pollution and sheer scale of water.

“They are only a third of the way through the development and this is already happening.”

Plans for the 260 homes were originally rejected by Caerphilly County Borough councillors in 2016, but in 2017 it was overturned by Senedd Member Lesley Griffiths, who was the Welsh Government’s then-Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs.

At the time, the development was opposed by residents, local ward councillors, Caerphilly’s Senedd Member Hefin David and Member of Parliament Wayne David.

She said: “I want them to stop all the water going to my land, there’s no authorisation for it.” She said that she had taken a course on Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) to better understand the situation.

She added: “It is being flooded out, there’s a small waterfall appearing on my land but they are meant to manage this on their own land.

“I just want them to deal with it.”

Penyrheol councillor Lindsay Whittle said he was pleased that NRW were investigating, especially with the Nant yr Aber river so close to the development.

The Plaid Cymru councillor said: “I have been a councillor for 47 years and one of the first things I did was object to the extension of Hendredenny.

“Ever since the development started we have had nothing but trouble with traffic, streams overflowing, and now this.”

Site meeting

Cllr Whittle has requested a site meeting next month to look at the situation.

Tim Sexton, construction director for Redrow in south Wales said: “Our team has been in regular communication regarding the concerns she has raised.

“We have all of the necessary consents in place to discharge controlled surface water from the site but unfortunately the adverse weather conditions in early January meant that the volume of additional rainfall did cause the basin near the embankment to overspill.

“We immediately self-reported this to Natural Resources Wales and are now working closely with the relevant authorities to mitigate any future reoccurrence.”

Kate Rodgers, Environment Team Leader for Natural Resources Wales, said: “We’ve received reports of water run-off from a housing development site in Caerphilly.

“Officers will be attending the site to carry out an investigation and where pollution is identified, appropriate enforcement action will be taken.