The southern end of Caerphilly County Borough is being turned into a “concrete commuter belt for Cardiff”, Plaid Cymru has claimed.
The party has blamed the council’s planning policy alleging that it is “developer-led” and is allowing towns in the northern half to “rot”.
A spokesman for Caerphilly County Borough Council said the authority was legally required to decide on planning applications in line with its Local Development Plan (LDP) up to 2021.
The plan, adopted in 2010 while Plaid Cymru were in control of the council, is deemed to be ‘out of date’ in terms of housing land supply. Because of this, housing developments are more likely to be approved on appeal, even if they are rejected by the council’s planning committee.
An up-to-date LDP was withdrawn last year by the ruling Labour group due to ferocious opposition from residents after a host of green field sites were earmarked for thousands of new homes in the planning blueprint.
Assembly Member Steffan Lewis, who represents South Wales East for Plaid Cymru, said: “From Grove Park to Gwern-y-Domen it is clear the public have lost any faith in the local authority’s housing policies, which are developer-led and have no regard for community sustainability or the economic prospects for people in the area. They are turning the southern borough into a concrete commuter belt for Cardiff and the north of the borough is being left to rot as a series of ghost towns. This can no longer be allowed to continue.”
Plaid Cymru councillor Lindsay Whittle, a former council leader and AM, said: “Greedy developers don’t care where they build – they are happy to concrete over our green fields if they can make a few bob. This is changing the lives of people who are finding it increasingly difficult to move around the area because the infrastructure is not there – the roads, the GP surgeries, the schools and unless we call a halt everything will grind to a halt.”
Research carried out for Mr Lewis has revealed there are around 900 empty homes in the county borough with 5,000 people on the council waiting list.
Caerphilly AM Hefin David said he shared some of the concerns of Plaid Cymru.
He said: “Caerphilly Council listened to the public and did not proceed with the proposed local development plan, which would have seen the kind of over development they talk about.
“I voted against the flawed plan when I was a councillor and Cllr Whittle and Plaid Cymru criticised me for doing so – but my opposition helped get it scrapped.
“The only way we are going to see development of our northern valleys is if we work together rather than split on party lines. I call on Cllr Whittle to stop bashing Caerphilly Council and work with the Leader to bring a thriving future to communities in the north of the borough.
“Neighbouring councils must also work with Caerphilly to produce cross border strategic development plans, which will focus on the creation of affordable housing in areas that desperately need it.
“Alongside that, I’m very encouraged by Caerphilly Council’s plans for business development and connecting and redeveloping our valleys towns. The Leader, Cllr David Poole, has also rightly called for a Metro depot to be located in Rhymney.
A spokesman for Caerphilly County Borough Council said: “There are planning applications currently being considered for residential development at Gwern y Domen and for housing at Heol y Cefn, Cefn Fforest. These sites are not allocated for housing in the LDP, which also restricts development in the Caerphilly area to brownfield land within settlement limits.
“Recently, the council refused consent for residential development at Pandy Road, Bedwas, because the site was outside the settlement and within a special landscape area, but permission was granted on appeal by the Welsh Ministers.
“In terms of housing need, our evidence suggests that demand for housing in the Caerphilly Basin area is very high. The 2015 Local Housing Market Assessment showed an annual requirement for 526 additional affordable housing units across the area.
“The assessment showed there to be a high requirement for homes in the Caerphilly basin area, which contrasts markedly with the Heads of the Valleys area where there is generally a surplus of housing.
“Whilst we have a housing waiting list of over 5,000 applicants, demand for properties in the north of the county borough is extremely low.”
It is really sad that Caerffili has been completely ruined over the past 100 years. From pretty market town to ugly suburb of Cardiff in just over a normal lifespan. I agree with Lindsay’s comment but it is too late to do anything about it now as the whole basin has been over built already,
In my lifetime there were once places of work, open spaces for farming and leisure and a few interesting buildings in the town itself that had both history and beauty. Most of this has now gone to make way for twee housing estates for Cardiff and Newport peple to move to. Carwyn Jones revealed his plans for the area when he visited the town recently, telling us, mere ,that we were going to get even more houses whatever our feelings on the matter.