A GOWERTON resident who is taking part in a planning appeal about a controversial housing estate claimed people in the area felt the decision to turn it down was a “no-brainer”.
Carl Jones addressed Swansea Council’s planning committee last September when it met to consider outline plans for a 216-home estate on land close to Gowerton railway station.
He is now teaming up with a small number of councillors to defend the refusal decision after the applicants, Persimmon Homes West Wales and Urban Style Homes, appealed.
A big bone of contention among objectors was the proposed access to the new homes off Fairwood Terrace. That’s because Fairwood Terrace joins busy Victoria Road at a T-junction opposite Gowerton rugby club, with a low railway bridge a few metres to one side and beyond that a busy traffic light junction with Gorwydd Road.
Like any community Gowerton generates its own traffic but it’s also used by many people heading from the north and west of Swansea to North Gower. Victoria Road also siphons a lot of commuter traffic from the main A484 to the north.
Asked what the general feeling was among Gowerton residents about the planned 216-home estate, Mr Jones said: “They say the traffic is terrible at the moment and that it would make it much worse.” The refusal decision was, he felt, a “no-brainer”.
Mr Jones added that the local GP practice had opposed the planning application because it was having difficulty recruiting staff and would need to extend its premises which it didn’t have the money to do.
There were other concerns raised by people who sent more than 880 objection letters to the council’s planning department. Mr Jones said: “Our objection is purely on the basis of the increase in traffic and the problems it’s going to cause.”
He said highways consultants commissioned by Gowerton Community Council had reviewed traffic impact assessments carried out on behalf of the applicants and had concluded in July 2023 that, in their view, the proposed development was significantly too large to be accommodated on the local highway network and should be refused. Mr Jones referred to this when he addressed the planning committee last September.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he felt this report ought to have been added to the council’s planning website along with the various other documents relating to the application.
The 67-year-old said a different access – from the east – would be a much better option.
Access and transport matters featured significantly in the 151-page planning report which went before the committee. The report said an assessment of the Fairwood Terrace-Victoria Road junction and the Gorwydd Road junction a couple of hundred metres away predicted an impact in delay and in queuing.
But what this impact could be, said the report, wasn’t something that could be accurately predicted. It added that consideration had to be given to a number of factors. The report cited proposed measures such as new traffic lights at the Fairwood Terrace junction, improved visibility splays and pedestrian crossings and concluded that the traffic impact could be adequately accommodated.
The planning officer report recommended approval of the application subject to conditions and a legal agreement between the applicants and council to mitigate the development’s impacts.
A planning agent on behalf of the applicants addressed the committee to say discussions with highway officers had been “extensive and exhaustive” resulting in “safe, efficient and realistically achievable” proposals. He added that 22 of the 67 flats and 149 houses would be affordable, and that the development included a new 50-space park and ride by the train station.
A majority of the committee voted against the approval recommendation, and received guidance from the council in March in this year after the appeal was submitted. The appellants are also seeking costs as they felt the council’s committee had acted unreasonably.
A Persimmon Homes West Wales spokesman said: “We were disappointed by the planning committee’s decision last year to refuse our proposal for 216 ‘zero-carbon ready’ homes in Gowerton, particularly as the site is allocated in the local development plan and had full backing for approval from the council’s planning officers.
“Given this, we submitted an appeal to the planning inspector, with the intention to bring much-needed, high-quality homes for local people to the town, and we are confident that our proposal is a compelling and policy-compliant one.”
He said prospective local buyers would be prioritised and that improvements to pedestrian and cycle routes, along with the park and ride by the train station, would incentivise residents to reduce car use.
Mr Jones said most people drove and that despite best intentions most would continue to do so. He said he was not against new housing – a point he made to the planning committee – but said the Fairwood Terrace access was, in his view, just not sustainable.
“The volume of traffic on Victoria Road is the same as on four lanes of Mumbles Road,” he said. “This would tip it over the edge.”
The planning appeal was started on May 1 by Planning Environment and Decisions Wales (PEDW), formerly Planning Inspectorate Wales, and comments by interested parties need to be submitted by May 29. There will then be a further opportunity until June 12 for people to submit final comments in relation to earlier submitted comments by others.
A Welsh Government spokesman said there were no current plans for a hearing or inquiry but that the process would be reviewed by the inspector when he or she was appointed to the case. He added that the inspector would consider the merits and impacts of the proposed development, including highway and transport matters, when compiling their report and recommendations.
A council spokesman said: “Prior to the decision to refuse the application, council planning officers recommended approval, and in this case, it would be inappropriate for officers to defend the appeal against the refusal. We are continuing to support members of the committee on procedural matters as part of the ongoing appeal.”
Mr Jones, who is originally from Killay, said he’d successfully fought a planning battle while living in London and that he understood the appeal process.
He described Gowerton as a lovely place. Asked if he would like to give evidence at a hearing, if one was to take place, he said: “I would relish it.”
