Issue - meetings

Erection of residential dwelling houses including access 

LOCAL MEMBER: Councillor Elin Hywel

Link to relevant background documents

DECISION:  TO REFUSE, contrary to the recommendation

Reasons: Lack of affordable housing, lack of information about the housing mix, balance and language matters.

THE APPLICATION WILL BE REFERRED TO A COOLING OFF PERIOD

Land off Caernarfon Road, Western Plot, Pwllheli, LL53 5LF

Construction of residential dwelling-houses including access

a)    The Planning Manager highlighted that this was an outline case to construct 12 residential dwellings in Pwllheli on a plot of land between Glan y Don garage and Aldi supermarket. ⁠ It was explained, although detailed plans and landscaping were not part of the application, that there was a need to consider the principle of the proposal, as well as the access details. Should the application be successful, the applicant would need to submit another application to agree on the reserved matters.

In terms of the principle of the proposal, it was considered that developing houses on the site was acceptable as the land was within the development boundary of Pwllheli and had been earmarked for residential development within the LDP. It was considered that the proposed development density was acceptable given the levels of the site, the need to protect biodiversity and the need to provide a sustainable drainage system and an open play area.

Reference was made to the Pwllheli housing figures, explaining that the proposal was acceptable due to the designation of the site for houses where there is an expectation of 150 new houses, although accepting that 150 would not be possible due to the physical restrictions of the site and the presence of the Aldi supermarket. It was expressed that Policy TAI 15 required an affordable housing contribution on residential developments of two or more units (a 30% contribution is required for Pwllheli), but it was highlighted that the application did not offer any affordable units. It was reported that the Aldi supermarket application had been approved on the site as it was unviable to construct houses there, and although some infrastructure improvement work had improved the situation, evidence in the viability assessment highlighted that it was unviable to provide affordable housing.

It was elaborated, having assessed the information of the viability assessment submitted with the application in accordance with the requirements of the criteria of policy TAI 15, there were no grounds to object to the figures or the conclusion of not offering affordable housing. As a result, it was considered that a lack of provision of affordable housing was not a valid reason to refuse the application. Reference was also made to the proposal to impose a condition to ensure C3 use of the units to ensure that they were all dwellings used as sole or primary residences - the proposal would not provide second homes, holiday homes or additional holiday units in the area.

Despite realising either way that there was no guarantee that the houses would be occupied by Welsh-speaking families, it was considered, with the houses being permanent houses, that the families that would likely occupy the houses would be integrated into the local community with any children attending local schools which provide education through the medium of Welsh. It was elaborated that there was sufficient capacity within local schools to cope with any additional  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6