A maverick councillor has said he feels “let down” by council officers over potential plans to build houses on green space in Pontllanfraith.
His remarks come as a public consultation over the future development of the Pontllanfraith House and Pontllanfraith Comprehensive School sites has been launched.
Caerphilly County Borough councillors agreed to sell their Pontllanfraith offices in February in a bid to save £5 million of necessary refurbishment and raise money from its sale.
Blackwood councillor Nigel Dix opposed the sale, but said he sought guarantees that houses would not be built on the green space used as a park behind the building.
He said that at a meeting to discuss the council’s Local Development Plan (LDP), it was decided that building houses on the space would be considered.
He said: “I was given a guarantee by the council that they would only develop on the footprint of the building and the car park, but I heard that they are looking to develop the assets further and develop the green space.
“At the LDP meeting I was defeated by four to five votes and I feel let down that they reneged on their original plans.
“I’m going to be fighting to keep that field at the back and urge the public to get involved.
“This is an opportune time to get involved with the consultation as the field is used by the public, for dog walking and contains a lot of wildlife.”
Cllr Dix said he had secured an independent survey into how a development would affect wildlife and that he has secured many services to remain in the locality after the offices’ closure.
Housing services will be moved into the shopping mall offices and services housed there will be accessible at Blackwood Library.
The council has outsourced the development of both the Pontllanfraith House and comprehensive school sites, which will both close next year, to a national planning, design and economics consultancy.
Cllr Ken James, Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration, said: “The council is looking at the two sites as an exciting opportunity to support the sustainable growth and development of the Blackwood and Pontllanfraith communities. As part of this process, we would like to hear the views of local residents.
“The sites are adjacent to each other and the council wants to explore the possibility of using them to help overcome the acute shortage of housing in the county borough.
“All councils have to ensure that they have a five-year land supply for housing and unfortunately Caerphilly County Borough only has enough land at present for two-and-a half-years.”
A Caerphilly County Borough Council spokesperson said: “While the council’s property department has commissioned the brief, given that the council is both landowner and planning authority, it is considered best practice to ask independent experts to conduct the consultation in order to ensure transparency and that all issues are fully explored.
“There are no covenants which preclude building on any of the land, however there will be a need to assess any landscape and ecological impact of development.
“Delivering a development brief is the best way of exploring any constraints to developing any part of the site early on, so that the development of these publicly owned assets can embrace the aspirations of the local community.”
• Public consultation events will be held on September 1 and 2 at Pontllanfraith House between 6pm and 8pm and at Blackwood Miners’ Institute on September 5 from 10am to 1pm.
Comments can also be left at www.plans-for-pontllanfraith.co.uk.
Once again we have the disturbing scene of council officers appearing to pursue interests that may not coincide with the views of the voters and the councillors they elected.
Cllr. Dix is right to highlight this and I suspect that the majority opinion of the public who attend the consultation will reflect his view, not that of the unelected officers. Perhaps the Caerphilly Observer could seek to publish the views received at the Pontllanfraith House & Blackwood ‘Stute’ as soon as they are collated?
Why do we need more houses? (Or shops) we are loosing our countryside and it’s such a shame! Why not turn the space into a community garden where everyone can have input, turn the space into something beautiful!!
There is so much land around that has been flattened for development, it’s not always a good move!!
Another proposal? We do not need more houses. The nett movement of people into the Caerphilly area is almost non-existent, and the increase in population is mostly caused by immigration.
Every single new house built will bring in large sums of money from the community infrastructure levy, and that’s all that the council are interested in.
I’m all for building new house’s as I have 5 children 4 girls and 1 boy in a three bedroom house it’s a bit cramped I work and pay my rent I have been on the housing list for seven years but lets look to build on brown sites like the old scrap yard in high fields Blackwood Leave the green land for people to enjoy there’s not much left where are our kids suppose to play and be kids just like the good old times we had when we were young