A planning appeal decision over whether a 300-home development can be built near Cefn Fforest is due in weeks.
Developer Persimmon wants to build a range of two, three and four-bedroom houses on the 9.72-hectare site, with a new access road built from Heol Pit-y-Ceiliogod and Beaumaris Way.
A planning report considered by councillors in October last year had recommended the development be approved, pending a section 106 agreement which would have seen Persimmon pay £220,000 towards a residents’ travel scheme to encourage less car use.
This was despite the fact the development was outside the local settlement area.
Faced with strong local opposition, members of the planning committee went against officers’ recommendations and turned the application down.
A two-day hearing was held in October with residents staging a protest beforehand.
The decision over whether or not to grant the development will be seen as a ‘test’ since a change in Welsh Government planning policy.
Independent councillor Nigel Dix said: “The council’s regeneration strategy for the ‘northern corridor’ of the borough is dependant on the development of brownfield sites for housing.
“Bargoed has a reclaimed brownfield site – which is less than a mile from the Blackwood site in Grove Park – that is capable of accommodating up to 500 houses. Yet over the last decade only 50 houses have been built.”