Councillors May Have to Defend Decision on Refusal of Large Housing Development

COUNCILLORS who voted against a large housing development may have to defend their decision at an appeal because planning officers didn’t think the refusal reason was strong enough.
Swansea Council’s planning committee had narrowly voted to turn down the 216-home scheme in Gowerton before meeting again to decide the reason for refusal.
After a lengthy debate, the committee voted by five to four, with two abstentions, in favour of refusal on the grounds of increased congestion and its impact on householders. Members dropped another proposed refusal reason – loss of trees – earlier in the meeting.
A planning officer said it was the view of the planning department that neither refusal reason was “particularly strong”, especially the loss of trees.
On the increased congestion and impact on residents, he said: “We’ve got difficulty in my opinion in defending that on appeal.”
Later in the meeting, he said the council would probably be looking at councillors to defend a refusal decision. He advised committee members “to go in with your eyes open” before making their final decision.
There had been significant opposition locally to the outline planning application put forward by Persimmon Homes and Urban Style Land Ltd, but the planning department had concluded it was acceptable.
Persimmon Homes said the homes on land at the end of Fairwood Terrace were much-needed and it was “deeply disappointed” with the committee’s refusal. It is now considering its next steps.
The debate heard from an objector, Carl Jones, who claimed the transport assessment commissioned by Persimmon Homes was “packed full of evidence” that Fairwood Terrace and the surrounding area would be “very negatively impacted” by an additional 216 properties.
He said a transport expert commissioned by objectors said it could take Fairwood Terrace residents 20 minutes to exit from the T-junction onto Victoria Road at peak times if they were built.
Mr Jones said objectors felt there were “serious concerns about the safety of the junction” and they would help defend the council if it went to appeal.
A planning agent on behalf of the housebuilder said there had been no technical objections to the outline application from statutory consultees and that council highway officers hadn’t objected either.
The plans include a 50-space park and ride hub at the adjacent Gowerton railway station, traffic lights at the Fairwood Terrace-Victoria Road junction, and new pedestrian crossings on both roads.
Persimmon Homes has said three new trees and whips would be planted for every one lost, and Swansea residents would have “first refusal” on the open market homes for a period of eight weeks after they went on the market.
Twenty-two of the properties would be transferred to a local housing provider.
Three councillors representing or living in Gowerton spoke against the application, describing how the village had become a traffic “bottleneck” and lost other areas of green space to make way for homes.
More than 880 letters have been submitted to the planning department objecting to the application, plus a petition with 317 signatures.
Committee members then asked further questions of the planning department.
Cllr Peter Black said he felt Gowerton’s problem was that “it’s too popular” and everyone wanted to live there. Cllr Andrew Williams said the presence of old mine-workings, plus flood risk and air pollution were major concerns for him.
A planning officer said the actual layout of the development, where factors such as flood risk areas and mine adits would be examined, would be part of a future detailed application.
A highways officer said the anticipated increase in traffic from the 216 houses was not “huge” given the amount of traffic already, and he had no concerns about Fairwood Terrace-Victoria Road junction visibility.
An objector told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the day after the meeting she thought “a lot of people slept well last night for the first time in a while”.
A Persimmon Homes spokesman said: “We are deeply disappointed by the planning committee’s refusal of our scheme, especially as the site is part of Swansea’s local development plan and had the full backing of the council’s planning officers and hierarchy.
“During the meeting , officers were unequivocal in their stance that this scheme should have been approved by members of the committee, and they indicated they would not support defending it at a potential appeal.
“As such, we will now take time to consider our next steps as we remain committed to working alongside our partners at Swansea Council to deliver much-needed quality homes for local people in the area.” ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

By BBC LDRS ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​