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, Eastern Plot, Pwllheli, LL53 5LF

    Construction of residential dwelling-houses including access

Attention was drawn to the late observations form which concluded that it was possible to impose conditions to ensure archaeological investigations, biodiversity enhancements and mitigation measures and a land drainage plan.

a)    ⁠The Planning Manager highlighted that this was an outline application for a residential development of 24 houses in Pwllheli on a plot of land to the east of the Aldi supermarket site. 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 was 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 the development was unviable even without provision of 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 and the fact that the development as a whole was unviable was not a reason to refuse the application because the action of any permission was a matter for the developer. 

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. Although no affordable housing would be provided as part of the application it could at least be ensured that the proposal would not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7