03/27/2024

Wales News Online

Local & National News for Wales

THE redevelopment of a former quarry in Swansea will accelerate in the new year after plans for 121 new houses were approved.

They will be built on land adjacent to the old Cwmrhydyceirw Quarry in Morriston – a redundant facility which once accepted landfill waste.

Swansea Council’s planning committee unanimously approved the Edenstone Homes scheme without any debate after hearing from a planning officer and a resident, who asked for support.

The resident, Robert Lewis, said he lived in a bunglalow on Enfield Close – behind where the new houses will be built.
Edenstone Homes has already started work on 28 bungalows at the site – called Parc Ceirw Garden Village – following a previous planning approval.

Eventually around 300 properties are expected to be built at the 35-acre plot.

Mr Lewis said: “I feel that this development is definitely over-development and taking away our privacy and our light, and it’s totally unacceptable, really. He added: “We are not against development at this site – we thought it could be better. Surely there is something that could be done.”

The planning report before the committee said the 121 houses were orginally to have been two and three-storey, but that the design had been amended so that they were two-storey – except for one which was described as 2.5 storeys.

The report said the 121 houses “will result in a considerable change to the outlook at the rear of properties on Enfield Close”, but that due to the separation distances there wouldn’t be any “significant adverse overbearing, overshadowing or overlooking impacts” for Enfield Close residents.

It also said the separation distances to houses on adjacent Maes Y Gwernen Road exceeded minimum requirements.
The officer report, which recommended approval of the application, said some trees would be felled to make way for the new houses, but “important” trees on the northern edge of the quarry basin and those along the Enfield Close boundary were proposed to be retained. New saplings will also be planted.

Outline planning permission for residential use of the quarry site – and the formal cessation of landfill use – was granted on appeal in 2017.

The 121 houses will include 15 affordable ones – and new outdoor areas will be created.

There were six objections to Edenstone Homes’s application, but no further ones when amended plans were submitted.

Speaking after consent was given by the planning committee, Edenstone Homes director Tim Smale said work would start in the new year.

He said a new park at the site would feature a play area, kick-about area, woodland and nature trail – with a community hub building and gym equipment also to be provided.

Mr Smale added: “The wider development of circa 300 homes and community facilities will take around five years to complete.”

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