Support quality, independent, local journalism…that matters

From just £1 a month you can help fund our work – and use our website without adverts. Become a member today

A couple’s plans to build three houses on land in Fleur de Lis would be “detrimental” to the character of the area, council planning officers have ruled.

Caerphilly County Borough Council planners decided to refuse the proposed development for land behind a house at the junction of Ivor Street and Arvonia Terrace.

Applicants Mr and Mrs Scanlon had hoped to build the three-bedroom detached houses with a new road access – but several neighbours lodged objections with the council.

Their concerns included traffic and parking pressures, the loss of vegetation, and an “overbearing impact” on a neighbouring property.

Council planners, in a report, said the height of the proposed homes “would likely be found unacceptable” because of a “clear and profound” difference between them and nearby properties.

Homes in Oak Tree Close could also be affected by a “loss of light”.

The removal of a “mature” boundary hedgerow and the construction of “excessive areas of hard surfacing” was “not considered to be acceptable in visual terms”, the planners added.

Planners noted the neighbours’ concerns about traffic and parking in Arvonia Terrace, but said the council’s own highways department had not raised any objections about an increase in traffic, and said the proposed development would provide “sufficient off-street parking”.

But the style of the development “does not respect the built form and pattern of the area”, the planners judged.

“By virtue of its scale, massing and likely layout, the proposed development would result in an overbearing impact on the private amenity spaces of the dwellings along Oak Tree Close, as well as on the dwelling Ivor House,” the council planners said. 

“In addition, it is likely that the proposed development would block light reaching the dwellings along Oak Tree Close, further compounding the overbearing impact.”