Detailed planning permission has been granted for an affordable housing development on Austin Grange in Caerphilly.

Four and five storey apartment blocks will be built on the site, near Caerphilly Station Park and Ride, in addition to a number of two and three storey houses.

The 74 homes include a mixture of Over-55s apartments, social housing and shared ownership properties – specifically:

• 15 Over-55s one-bedroom apartments.
• 24 one-bedroom social rented apartments.
• 15 two-bedroom social rented apartments.
• 3 four-bedroom social rented apartments.
• 4 two-bed shared ownership houses.
• 13 three-bed shared ownership houses.

A bike store and 83 car parking spaces will be provided as part of the development, which was proposed by the directors of Rhomco Consulting – a Cardiff-based developer.

The material of the homes will be a mixture of buff coloured brick and stone, dark grey horizontal cladding and slate grey roofs.

In the report presented to the planning committee on Wednesday, April 13, the 21st Century Schools Officer at the council stated there would be adequate space in the local schools – except for in the Welsh language school Ysgol Gyfun Caerffili.

Plaid Cymru Councillor James Fussell recognised that this was not an issue specific to this application, but added that more should be done for Welsh language education provision.

Cllr Fussell, who represents the St. Martins ward added: “It’s a needed development in terms of meeting our quota, and a positive development overall.”

The application received two objection from residents – citing loss of wildlife, traffic congestion, and the loss of privacy to existing residents at Maes Glas, as their main concerns.

The development will effect local wildlife, but the report said the benefit of the affordable housing justifies this in terms of public interest. Additionally, mitigation measures are to be put in place to avoid disrupting the bats.

In addition to adequate separation between the existing houses and the potential new houses, privacy screens and obscured glazed windows are proposed for the higher floors, to ensure there are no privacy issues for existing residents.

The council’s highways department didn’t raise any concerns about surrounding roads accommodating extra traffic that would be created by the plans.

The development was unanimously approved by planning committee members at the meeting.