Plans for up to 15 new homes given green light
PLANS for up to 15 new homes in a Carmarthenshire village have been given the go-ahead but the clock is ticking for the developer to include affordable housing as part of the project.
Carmarthenshire Council’s planning committee granted Gwili Developments Ltd outline permission for the houses on land in the village of Bronwydd, north of Carmarthen.
A condition of permission is that Gwili Developments Ltd has six months to agree affordable housing as part of the scheme under a Section 106 agreement.
If no agreement is reached within that time frame they face a decision U-turn by the council, with the plans being refused by the head of Carmarthenshire Council planning department.
The scheme was discussed at a planning committee meeting of the council, where councillors were told the plans have not been met favourably by everyone locally.
Bronwydd Community Council indicated to the county council ahead of the meeting that several residents had expressed concern in respect of the proposed development.
These were on grounds of the scale and density of the development, along with a perceived increase in traffic and loss of privacy for existing properties.
Carmarthenshire Council planning officer Hugh Towns told councillors that a previous outline application for 15 dwellings at the site was approved by the county council back in 2013, subject to a Section 106 agreement for affordable housing and traffic management measures.
However, difficulties with the Section 106 agreement stalled the scheme from getting under way until now.
He said the application was back before the committee due to eight years having passed since it was first approved.
Mr Towns said it was only the road access that was to be considered at this stage and anything relating to the housing layout would be looked at in more detail at a later date.
Mr Towns explained: “A lot of the concerns and objections put forward by objectors to this scheme relate to an indicative layout and therefore not really for consideration as part of this application.
“They would be for consideration as part of a detailed application.”
The site is allocated for 15 dwellings as part of Carmarthenshire Council’s Local Development Plan (LDP) with access between two properties on the main A484 through Bronwydd.
Mr Towns added: “The (council’s) highways officers have no objections to this development. However, they have requested a contribution of £10,000 (from the developer) towards vehicle-activated driver feedback signs.”
These signs activate if an approaching vehicle is detected to be exceeding the 30mph speed limit through the village.
Mr Towns said: “The recommendation is to approve, subject to the applicant entering into a Section 106 agreement in relation to affordable housing and the traffic management contribution.
“To avoid the position of maybe waiting another eight years and coming back to the planning committee again, another part of the recommendation is that should the Section 106 not be entered into within a period of six months from the decision date (of the planning committee), then the head of service (council planning department) will be authorised to issue a refusal on the basis of a lack of contribution towards affordable housing within Carmarthenshire.”
Councillor Irfon Jones, the local county councillor for Bronwydd and vice-chair of the planning committee, queried a requirement for the developer to make off-site contributions for play areas, which was now not part of the Section 106 agreement.
He said: “We need that to go towards the play area because the village hall went into debt almost because we built a play area for the children many years ago but haven’t finished paying for it yet and that’s where this money would go.”
Mr Towns said in the current Section 106 agreement tabled there had not been a request from the council’s parks and leisure department for a sum of money, but if councillors wanted to ask officers to reconsider this issue and speak to the developer then that could be done.
Councillors agreed to this, and the outline permission was granted unanimously subject to developers agreeing to affordable housing and traffic management requirements.