The Planning Committee of Swansea Council met on Tuesday 3 September 2024. The committee resolved to defer a decision on a significant planning application for residential development at Land Adjacent To Fairwood Terrace, Gowerton, Swansea.

Planning Applications

Land Adjacent To Fairwood Terrace, Gowerton, Swansea (2023/0253/OUT)

The committee deferred the decision on a planning application for the proposed residential development of up to 216 dwellings with commercial/mixed uses at ground floor, a mobility hub, active travel routes, green infrastructure, drainage, and associated works. The application was deferred to allow for a further report to be presented to the next committee meeting outlining the reasons for refusal.

The application had attracted significant public interest, with 881 letters of objection and a petition of 317 signatures submitted. Key concerns raised by objectors included non-compliance with the Swansea Local Development Plan (LDP) and Planning Policy Wales, traffic congestion on local roads, inadequate capacity in local schools and healthcare services, flood risk, and environmental impacts.

Numerous consultees provided detailed responses. Natural Resources Wales raised concerns regarding flood risk, noting that the site is partially within Zone C2 of the Development Advice Map (DAM) contained in TAN 15, where highly vulnerable development should not be permitted. While mitigation measures were proposed, NRW concluded that the development did not fully comply with TAN15, although they acknowledged that the proposed residential buildings were not expected to flood and that the development now complied with A1.12 regarding off-site impacts.

The Coal Authority noted that the site falls within a Development High Risk Area due to past coal mining activity and indicated the presence of mine entries and shallow workings. They raised no objection, subject to appropriate conditions being imposed to ensure site investigations and remedial measures were undertaken.

The Local Highway Authority raised no objection, subject to conditions and a Section 106 agreement, noting that while traffic impact assessments predicted increased delays and queuing at certain junctions, mitigation measures including signalisation upgrades and contributions to traffic management software would be implemented.

The Council's Education Officer noted that while there were projected unfilled places in English-medium schools, the Welsh-medium primary school and both secondary schools would have sufficient capacity to accommodate pupils generated by the development. Therefore, no developer contributions were deemed necessary for school places, despite the Education Department's request for contributions to address existing deficiencies and maintain a 10% capacity buffer.

The Drainage Officer initially objected to the application due to a lack of detailed strategy and concerns about off-site third-party impacts regarding flood risk. However, subsequent updates and assessments led to a revised position, with the Authority maintaining its objection in principle due to minor increases in flood depth on third-party land, which the Authority could not permit.

Dwr Cymru Welsh Water highlighted insufficient capacity in the public sewerage and water supply systems, recommending hydraulic modelling assessments and the implementation of reinforcement works. A compensatory surface water removal strategy was also deemed necessary.

The application was deferred to allow for a further report to be presented to the next committee meeting outlining the reasons for refusal. Councillor D H Jenkins declared a personal and prejudicial interest in this item and left prior to discussion. Councillor L R Jones declared a personal interest. Councillor Sue Jones and Councillor Lyndon Jones addressed the committee and spoke against the proposal. Carl Jones also addressed the committee as an objector. Luke Grattarola spoke in support of the application.