Agenda item

Full application for the proposed erection of up to 14. No. Affordable Dwellings (C3 class use) with associated development including creation of a new vehicular access and estate road, amenity space, landscaping and biodiversity improvements.

 

LOCAL MEMBER: Councillor Gruffydd Williams

 

Link to relevant background documents

DECISION: ⁠To delegate the right to the Head of Environment to approve the application with the following conditions:

 

1.         Time

2.         Development to comply with the approved plans

3.         Must submit and agree a programme for providing affordable housing

4.         Must agree on external materials including the roofing slates

5.         Removal of Permitted Development Rights

6.         Welsh Water Condition

7.         Highways Conditions

8.         Biodiversity Conditions

9.         Building Control Plan

10.       The housing estate and individual houses must be given Welsh names

11.       Restrict the use to C3 use class only

12.       Landscaping to be completed

13.       Agree on the details of any play equipment

 

DECISION: ⁠To delegate the right to the Head of Environment to approve the application with the following conditions:

 

1.         Time

2.         Development to comply with the approved plans

3.         Must submit and agree a programme for providing affordable housing

4.         Must agree on external materials including the roofing slates

5.         Removal of Permitted Development Rights

6.         Welsh Water Condition

7.         Highways Conditions

8.         Biodiversity Conditions

9.         Building Control Plan

10.       The housing estate and individual houses must be given Welsh names

11.       Restrict the use to C3 use class only

12.       Landscaping to be completed

13.       Agree on the details of any play equipment

Land near Helyg, Tai Lôn, Nefyn, Pwllheli, LL53 6LG

 

Full application to construct 14 affordable houses (use class C3) with associated developments, including extending an existing vehicular road and new estate road, amenity space, landscaping and biodiversity enhancements.

 

            Attention was drawn to the late observations form.

             

a)           The Senior Planning Officer highlighted that this was a full application to erect 14 new living units as well as associated works on a site within the current development boundary of Nefyn town, which had been designated specifically for housing in the LDP. The development would offer 4 one-bedroom flats, 5 two-bedroom houses, 4 three-bedroom houses and 1 four-bedroom house. It was noted that the applicant confirmed that the development had been submitted in the form of a neutral plan in terms of occupancy, i.e., a plan that would provide 100% affordable housing with a mix in terms of occupancy being provided (e.g., social rent housing, intermediate affordable rented housing, part-ownership), to meet the need and to allow for change in the circumstances of households once the plan would be built.

 

It was explained that the site was currently open agricultural land, with cloddiau and hedges surrounding it, and the B4437 main road adjacent to the northern boundary of the site; the site and broader area was within the Llŷn and Enlli Landscape of Outstanding Historic Interest. 

 

It was reported, in line with the arrangements of the Gwynedd Planning Service delegation scheme, the application was submitted to the committee as the number of houses being provided was 5 or more in total. In line with the appropriate procedure, a Pre-application Consultation Report was received as a part of the application and the developer had advertised the proposal to the public and the statutory consultees before submitting a formal planning application. A full assessment of all relevant matters was completed, including compliance with adopted policies and guidance, as well as a full consideration of all comments and objections received. Consequently, the proposal as submitted was considered acceptable on the following grounds:

 

·        That the Authority's adopted policies stated that Councils would seek appropriate levels of affordable housing in the plan area. The proposal provides a development including 100% of affordable units with the Housing Strategic Unit confirming that there is evidence of the need to justify the provision as proposed, to address the needs of the local community.

·        That the site had been designated specifically for the construction of houses, with the site estimate noting that 19 units could be provided on the site.

 

As the proposal as submitted was acceptable and met the requirements of the relevant policies, the officers recommended approving the application.

 

b)           Taking advantage of the right to speak, the applicant's representatives made the following observations:

·     That the development for 14 affordable living units had been prepared to meet the local need for housing.

·     Although the site had been allocated for 19 units with the need for 10% of them to be affordable, the intention here was to offer 14 units that would provide 100% affordable housing to meet local need.

·     That the development was being led by Grŵp Cynefin, with housing grant support from the Welsh Government, under the control of Cyngor Gwynedd via the Development Department.

·     That the plan met the Cyngor Gwynedd Housing Strategy by responding to the County's housing crisis, ensuring that affordable housing was available to local people.

·     That consultation had taken place with the public and statutory consultees, and the plans had been discussed with Nefyn Town Council.

·     That the proposal complied with relevant policies.

·     That the Welsh language statement, despite not being required as the site had already been designated, noted a positive impact on the language.

·     That the statistics of Cynefin tenants highlighted a higher percentage of Welsh speakers than the percentage of the wards. Confident therefore that the allocations policy would allocate the houses to local people and people who spoke Welsh.

·     That a high number of people who wished to live in the area were on the waiting list of Tai Teg housing options.

·     The development was one which attempted to prioritise people with a local connection to the community and respond to the demand.

 

c)       Taking advantage of the right to speak, the Local Member made the following observations:

·     That Nefyn Town Council strongly objected to the application as they were not needed.

·     The houses would be let under the Gwynedd common housing allocation policy and therefore the development was likely to have a harmful impact on the Welsh language - this was contrary to the strategic aim of Nefyn Town Council to protect and increase the use made of the Welsh language.

·     Cynefin had received an offer from the Local Member to work with the community and Town Council to establish a local allocations policy that would protect the Welsh language and the residents of Nefyn - they did not take up the opportunity and chose to disregard the genuine concerns of the residents of Nefyn and the Town Council and submitted the application against the wishes of the community.

·     The existing allocations policy brought more and more strangers from non-Welsh areas outside the County, and even from England, to live in Nefyn, and therefore led to less Welsh being heard on the street.

·     With regards to the developer's language statement, Owain Wyn stated that within the social rent sector, almost 4 in every 5 moved in from other areas, and those who moved to the Nefyn area (whether from the social rent sector or moving to the area), 18 units, it was seen that 77.8% had moved from other parts of Gwynedd, and 22.2% from outside the County. This meant that 22.2% had no connection with the area, which was a high percentage, and with 4 in every 5 having come to social housing from outside the area, it gave the impression that this development would not have a positive impact on the Welsh language.

·     The Committee, with a similar application for affordable housing in Botwnnog, had refused Adra's application for the exact same reason, and therefore asked the Committee to support the objection.

·     The Community Councils of Botwnnog, Aberdaron and Tudweiliog were working together to secure the continuation of the Welsh language, and now 18 other community/town Councils in Gwynedd had joined them - joining forces to support each other and call for more control and resources to protect the Welsh language and establish local allocation policies that will ensure the prosperity of the Welsh language in our communities.

·     That the Local Allocations Policy was a common policy with links to the 106 agreement (which came under the Planning procedure to provide assurances that there would be no harmful impact to the language - a local allocations policy or 106 agreement as part of the application would not provide this assurance.

·     Tudweiliog Community Council expressed support to Nefyn Town Council to object to the application and to inform that the Welsh Language Commissioner's policy officer was submitting comments on a draft document of local allocations policies that would be submitted to Cyngor Gwynedd, before consulting with the community. The document would be grounds to establishing a local allocations policy considering the legal advice of the Welsh Language Commissioner.

·     That Cyngor Gwynedd was also awaiting legal advice which would provide further guidance on how the Council could support Town and Community Councils to reach an agreement with housing associations to properly consider linguistic skills in local allocations policies.

·     That the Welsh Government would be publishing a response to the Welsh Communities Commission before the end of the month, which would provide definitive guidance on including Welsh as a consideration in local allocations policy and 106 agreements - approving the application before obtaining guidance would be the wrong step.

·     A request for the Committee to support the objection of the residents of Nefyn and the Town Council.

·     ⁠That there was a need to protect the language. ⁠There was no local allocations policy or 106 agreement in place here.

·     The development would be likely to cause significant harm to the Welsh language and would be contrary to policy PS1.

 

ch)    It was proposed and seconded to approve the application.

 

d)           During the ensuing discussion, the following observations were made by members:

·        That the application was contrary to policy PS1 - it would create a negative impact on the Welsh language. There was no evidence or sufficient consideration in the language statement to protect the Welsh language.

·        That the native Welsh speakers needed houses!

·        That the site was included in the LDP and therefore a language statement had already been evidenced.

·        That the application was a major one - creating a potential impact on the amenities of nearby houses.

·        That the application was attractive and strong, but there were too many houses there - Nefyn was a small town.

·        No data about the Welsh speakers on the waiting list, therefore it was difficult to weigh up until data was available.

·        There were no mitigation measures here to protect the Welsh language.

·        The policy met the housing needs of the people of Gwynedd. Nefyn was a town with a relevant role within the area.

·        Accepted that the policy conveyed the 'local to Gwynedd' aspect, but priority for the people of Nefyn, in line with an allocations policy which met the needs of the area.

·        That the Hawl i Fyw Adra campaign had started in Nefyn, which reflected the fact that houses were needed in Nefyn!

 

In response to a question as to whether it would be possible to impose a condition that the Welsh-speakers of Nefyn were given priority, the Assistant Head highlighted that it was not possible to control the language of house occupiers or change policies to correspond to a specific application.

 

RESOLVED: ⁠To delegate the right to the Head of Environment to approve the application with the following conditions:

 

1.         Time

2.         Development to comply with the approved plans

3.         Must submit and agree a programme for providing affordable housing

4.         Must agree on external materials including the roofing slates

5.         Removal of Permitted Development Rights

6.         Welsh Water Condition

7.         Highways Conditions

8.         Biodiversity Conditions

9.         Building Control Plan

10.       The housing estate and individual houses must be given Welsh names

11.       Restrict the use to C3 use class only

12.       Landscaping to be completed

13.       Agree on the details of any play equipment