Objections over plan to build 63 homes

A REGIONAL AM is backing campaigners who don’t want 63 houses built on a field near Caswell Bay.

But developers Westacres Ltd said it would provide vital affordable housing for people looking to get on the housing ladder.

Swansea council nominated the Summerland Lane field as a candidate site for residential redevelopment under the county’s new local development plan (LDP), which is yet to be approved by the Welsh Government.

South Wales West AM Suzy Davies met Oystermouth councillor Myles Langstone and Ian Scott, chairman of Mumbles Community Council, at the site.

Westacres Ltd has submitted a pre-application inquiry with Swansea council and spoken to local people before deciding whether or not to lodge a planning application to build the new homes. The community council has commissioned its own planning consultants to set out objections to the proposal, and also to represent it at an LDP public inquiry later this year.

Mr Langstone said people feared the sewage system in the area would not cope with the additional houses. He said: “The developers propose installing a sump at the bottom of the site where all the sewage will go.

“It will then be pumped uphill to join the existing sewerage system, which already has capacity issues. My fear, and that of many residents, is what will happen if the pump breaks down?

“The sewage will overflow into the adjoining Bishop’s Wood nature reserve and find its way into the local stream which discharges into the sea at Caswell Bay – which is a Blue Flag beach.

“We could be looking at a major environmental disaster in the making here, which could have severe implications for the local tourism industry as well as for residents.

One resident said that Newton Primary School was already full, and governors were due to meet in the new term to discuss the implications for the school of potentially having an influx of extra families into the area. He added that all neighbouring schools may have to be adjusted to cater for the extra children.

Another said: “I accept that we need more housing – but it must be in the right place to meet an identified local need and take into account impact on existing residents.”

A spokesman for developers Westacres Ltd said: “Despite some negative comments, we have had a lot of positive feedback. Fifty per cent of the development will consist of affordable homes. Building the homes will give people the opportunity to buy, which they may not have been able to do before due to the cost.”