Proposed residential development at Stradey Park, Llanelli

26 Jul 2010 09:29 AM

The application before Carmarthenshire County Council for approval of reserved matters for 355 houses and associated works at Stradey Park, Llanelli will be decided by the Welsh Ministers and not the Council, the Welsh Assembly Government announced recently.

The Welsh Ministers have decided to call-in the application for their own determination and letters setting out the decision and how it was reached were sent to the Council and the applicants by officials in the Welsh Assembly Government’s Planning Division.

Outline planning permission was granted in August 2007 by the Welsh Ministers for up to 450 houses at Stradey Park and on 20 March 2008 Taylor Wimpey Homes applied to the Council for approval of reserved matters in respect of the construction of 450 residential units on the land.  In March 2010 the application was amended to relate to 355 houses.

The Welsh Ministers have received numerous requests to call in this application, with the issue of flooding at Stradey Park being one of the main reasons for the requests.  Up-to-date flood modelling data provided in September 2009 and March 2010 indicated that a substantial part of the application site was now within an area of floodplain which national planning policy indicated should not be subject to residential development.

The applicants have provided schemes to mitigate the effects of flooding on the site but the thrust of national policy is to direct development away from the flood plain wherever possible.  The question of whether other matters, including technical ones relating to risk and mitigation measures, outweigh the national planning policy position that residential development should not be permitted in floodplains such as this is one that must be considered but does not appear to have been addressed by the applicants or the Council.  In light of this the Welsh Ministers considered that the application raises planning issues of more than local importance, in particular issues which may conflict with national planning policy on development and flood risk, which warranted the application being called-in for their own determination.

The procedure, including timings, by which the application will be considered – written representation, informal hearing or public local inquiry – will be announced as soon as possible.

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