Plans for new homes stall because of flooding fears

Ted Peskett, local democracy reporter

Plans to construct eight new council homes have stalled because of fears over flooding.

Cardiff Council’s planning committee decided to defer the application for homes at Radyr Court Close in Llandaff at a meeting on Thursday, December 12.

The reasons for refusal given by the committee included a loss of open space and a lack of flood defences in the area.

Members also said they would like to see a condition brought in that requires adequate flood defences to be built before any construction work takes place on the homes.

‘Wrong place’

Conservative Cardiff Council ward councillor for Llandaff, Cllr Sean Driscoll, said: “It’s with a heavy heart I come here again to oppose a development of much-needed housing, which I know there are families desperate for them.

“However, like previously, it’s just the right development in absolutely the wrong place.”

Radyr Court Close was badly affected by flooding in February 2020 and more recently, following storm Darragh when the River Taff burst its banks.

Cllr Driscoll added: “Every time there’s a flood warning, the residents relive that experience. We should not be putting residents into new homes at this location.”

There are more than 8,000 people on Cardiff Council’s housing waiting list. Labour ward councillor for Llandaff, Cllr Peter Jenkins, noted this and the importance to ease the pressure on housing in Cardiff.

However, he agreed with his ward colleague that the proposal in its current form was not right. He said the eight new homes provided through this development would be a “tiny drop in a very large ocean”.

The plans, put forward by Wales and West Housing, proposed to build the eight family homes on a raised parcel of land between Radyr Court Close and Radyr Court Road.

Public open space

The site is described by the council as public open space, but Cllr Driscoll said this is designated amenity space specifically for the residents of the Wales and West Housing Association because they have no rear gardens.

Planning officials at the council argued that the proposed homes would not increase the risk of flooding in the area and that the scheme would be protected by being built on raised ground.

They also said the proposal should not be judged on recent flooding events which happened because the River Taff burst its banks.

Planning officers did however acknowledge that flood defences in the area failed.

A number of members of the council’s planning committee expressed their discomfort over the idea of approving plans for homes in an area that had suffered multiple cases of flooding.

Shocked

Cllr Adrian Robson said: “I was quite shocked when I saw it on site… how this has been allowed to progress.

“To my mind, we are risking the potential occupiers… and existing occupiers.”

Cllr Garry Hunt said he noted the comments on the flooding and planning experts, but added that he found it difficult to accept their argument that the development would not create any flooding risk.

His planning committee colleague, Cllr Peter Wong, said the language being used by planning officers felt “like bubble speak” and that residents would not be reassured by some of their comments, including the argument that the proposal should not be judged based on a recent flooding event that occurred because the Taff breached its banks.

Cllr Michael Michael, who proposed the motion to defer the application for refusal, said: “We shouldn’t be building anything on this site until flooding defences are strengthened.”

One planning officer said Natural Resources Wales (NRW) were comfortable with the flood risk assessment for the proposal. A Cardiff Council planning report states that the local authority has appointed an engineering company, Arcadis, to undertake an investigation and detailed design of repair works on flood defences.

However, it also says that discussions are ongoing between the council, NRW and the Welsh Government regarding the responsibility for repair works on the flood defences.

The developers appealed against the council after it originally put in plans for 14 homes on the same site on the grounds of non determination.

Even though the appeal was dismissed by the Welsh Government’s planning arm, Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW), the inspector overseeing that case recommended that an off-site contribution of land be sought to compensate the proposed loss of open space.

No replacement land has been acquired yet.