Homes plan for school site on hold
A PLAN to transform the century-old Aberdare Girls’ Grammar School has been delayed by “up to 12 months or more” after a row over an historic covenant for the site.
Aberdare School Developments gained planning permission to convert the empty 1913 Plasdraw building - where several generations of Aberdare girls have been educated - in October 2016, and hoped building work would start this month.
But, the plans to build 44 homes on the 2.87-acre site - including 26 apartments for the over-50s, 16 bungalows and two houses - now appear to be on hold, in the short-term at least.
Aberdare School Developments said the major delay stems from a dispute with “a minority” of neighbours, who claim an historic covenant for the site – believed to say the building should be used for educational purposes only – should be respected.
Meanwhile, since revealing the delay, developers have released an artist’s impression video of what the finished project would look like.
Seven letters of objection had been received by Rhondda Cynon Taf council over the plans, in which neighbours also raised concerns that the development will cause a loss of amenity to their properties, and that they would have to put up with 12 months of construction and additional street lighting near their properties on a permanent basis.
But the issue of the covenant was not a consideration in the planning procedure - it was described by RCT’s service director for planning as “a separate legal matter”.
Now, as work was about to begin on site, an Aberdare School Developments statement said: “A minority of neighbours have asked us to stop the redevelopment of the site because of a legal covenant.
“Unfortunately, our legal team has now advised us not to proceed with the regeneration until the matter is resolved.
“We are disappointed because we don’t want this proud building of Aberdare to fall into such a state of disrepair where it can’t be brought back into use (as has happened to many other local historic buildings).
“We hope that those individuals would recognise the significance of the preservation of this building and withdraw their objections, allowing us to begin work.
“We are unable to give a time-frame of when we will now be able to start - we have a planning permission in place, a building team ready and keen interest in the scheme.
“Construction work was planned to start this month but that could be delayed now by up to 12 months or more.”
Rob Bailey, founder of Swallow Hill Homes which part-owns Aberdare Developments, told us that nothing more can be added to the statement - including what happens next and how the dispute might be resolved.
We attempted to contact neighbours who previously raised concerns with us over the plans.