Plans to transform care home into apartments given green light despite objections

Lewis Smith – Local democracy reporter

Plans to turn a former care home into affordable housing have been given the green light by a council despite some local objection.

The plans, put forward by developers at Linc Cymru, will now see the demolition of Caewern House, based in Caewern on Dwr-y-Felin Road in Neath, to make way for the creation of 36 affordable apartments.

The Victorian building was reportedly used as a care home up until it closed in 2015 with the property left vacant and falling into ruin in the years since, after “numerous instances of vandalism”.

The Neath property consists of a three-storey building, believed to have been from the 19th century, as well as an associated access track from Dwr-y-Felin Road, hard standing, and a number of trees.

The approval will now allow for the for the demolition of the old house for the construction of the flats together with new access, car parking and landscaping.

Plans

The plans read: “Each block of flats is three storeys high and finished in brown facing brick on a dark grey semi-dressed stone course with stone detailing, dark grey UPVC windows and doors, brown rainwater goods and a slate tiled roof.

“Each flat has its own self-contained accommodation comprising one or two bedrooms, a lounge, kitchen/dining area, bathroom or wetroom and a small external balcony area.”

It adds that the flats will be set out over five three-storey blocks with the inclusion of electric vehicle charging points at the site.

However, the plans were called in to the council’s planning committee on March 11, after local residents raised a number of concerns.

These included fears over a loss of privacy with residents feeling they could be overlooked by the new development, potential impacts to the water capacity in the area – as well as potential issues with traffic on the busy junction of the property where there is already said to be a high volume of traffic with a school, college and care home nearby.

Demand

Following representations from the applicant and members of the public, officers responded by saying that the highways department had offered no objections to the plans which were developed to meet the demand for local housing, with the site also complying with the required overlooking distances.

They were later given the go-ahead after a vote of councillors who turned down a site visit before approving the plans with eight in favour, one opposed and one abstention.