Controversial housing refusal decision overturned by inspector
CONTROVERSIAL HOMES CAN BE BUILT AFTER RULING
PLANNING inspectors have overturned a council’s decision to refuse permission for 24 homes in a Gwynedd village.
In February, Gwynedd Council planners turned down an application by Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd (CCG) to build 24 new homes in Llanwnda due to fears over the location of the planned children’s play area.
Campaigners, who held a public protest against the plans, claimed the play area’s location next to a railway line and gas substation posed an “unacceptable risk” and urged CCG to amend the plans.
CCG was adamant that the development, which includes 12 affordable homes, is much needed in the area with measures including a two-metre high “anticlimb” fence also in the pipeline to ensure public safety.
But the planning inspectors, who revealed their decision on Tuesday, have fallen on the side of the developers with Gwynedd Council also facing having to pay the appellant’s costs.
The planning committee had refused the application on the basis the proposed open space would not be suitably located and the layout was too close to the gas supply pressure reducing station and the narrow-gauge railway.
But the inspector’s report noted: “Consultations on planning applications are carried out by the local planning authority, nevertheless, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) was consulted as part of the appeal proceedings and it raises no objection to the proposed development.
“There is therefore no planning basis to oppose the development having regard to the main determining issue in this appeal.
“The council’s Joint Planning Policy Unit confirms that the open space provision is compliant with Policy ISA 5, and the then published guidance Supplementary Planning Guidance: Housing Developments and Open Spaces of Recreational Value.
“I am satisfied that the provision accords with the standard, and I have no compelling evidence as to why the open space is deficient in these terms.”
Inspector Iwan Lloyd added: “I conclude that the proposed open space is suitably located having regard to the safety of occupiers of existing and future residents of the site and the locality.
“The development accords with the development plan and is therefore sustainable development.”
Before the original refusal Ffrancon Williams, the chief executive of CCG, said they had taken into consideration “all measures” to ensure the safety of any youngsters using the open space.
He added that the development was in line with Gwynedd Council’s housing strategy, their own development strategy and the Welsh Government’s aim to build 20,000 new homes by 2021.