Council agrees to sell former Grillo site for housing

LAND with outline planning permission for up to 320 homes by Burry Port harbour is to be sold.

Carmarthenshire Council’s executive board approved the disposal of the 13-hectare site at a meeting on April 26.

Introducing the report recommending disposal, Cllr David Jenkins said: “The regeneration site will bring forward muchneeded housing in an area of high demand.”

Just over half the land used to be the Grillo zinc oxide factory, which closed in 2006. A company called Castletown Estates Ltd gained outline consent in 2016 for up to 230 homes there, plus some retail and leisure space, but the scheme didn’t progress.

The council then agreed to buy the Grillo site for £2 million to help speed up its development.

The plan is for more housing on the adjacent plot, which is owned by the council and the Welsh Government, taking to the number of homes up to 320. Both sites would be served by a new road off the B4311.

Cllr Glynog Davies said it was an important project but one he hoped would be delivered in phases in order to monitor the impact on local schools and other services.

The land is to be developed in partnership with a private company, with a minimum design standard set out beforehand.

The retail and leisure area within the scheme could create up to 30 jobs.

The disposal will provide a capital receipt for the authority but would be done via an “open procurement procedure” rather than an open market sale. Detailed planning applications will need to be submitted and approved before any work gets under way.

There is also a smaller piece of land to the south of the two plots, close to the beach, where a further 40 homes could be built in a later phase.

Cllr Cefin Campbell said he would like local companies to be given opportunities to tender for the construction work in due course, as long as the procurement rules allowed this.

The executive report said a “creatively designed harbourside scheme” was the objective.

“Development proposals should have full regard to the site’s prominent position on the waterfront and must complement the current and proposed facilities within the harbour and Millennium Coastal Park,” it said.

Other elements of the Burry Port masterplan include employment units, and a commercial and leisure-led scheme.

Separately, a company called The Marine Group is to upgrade the 450berth marina and revamp the historic marine house building.