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Contentious plans to build 164 homes on a greenfield site in Blackwood have been approved by councillors.

A reserved matters application to build on the 14.5-acre site in Cwmgelli, Blackwood, was approved by the council’s planning committee on Wednesday (March 3).

A petition against the plan was signed by 241 people with concerns over building on a greenfield site, drainage and the amount of homes proposed.

An outline application for the development was granted following an appeal in 2016, but it indicated that between 115 and 120 homes would be built.

However council planners who recommended approval said they were satisfied the higher number of homes proposed was suitable for the site.

At a meeting on Wednesday, objector David Chivers raised concerns over drainage issues at the site and said it would cause more flooding to the Cwmgelli Villas area.

Mr Chivers also raised concern over the impact of the additional homes on traffic in the area, which he said is “bad enough now”.

Blackwood councillor Kevin Etheridge said there had been “a significant change” under the reserved matters application.

He questioned why an environmental impact assessment was not required to be submitted as part of the plans.

Fellow ward councillor Nigel Dix raised concerns the increase in properties would result in “greater drainage issues” and present a “significant risk to properties”.

However Mark Roberts, speaking on behalf of developers Taylor Wimpey, said the number of homes proposed can be “suitably accommodated on the site”.

“The increase is within the scope of the outline application,” he said.

Mr Roberts told the committee that issues such as drainage would be addressed as part of a planning condition, and that the principle of development on the site had already been established in the approval of the outline application.

But Cllr Tom Williams objected to using a greenfield site for the development.

“We are going to be hammering greenfield sites by allowing this to take place when there are other areas that are not greenfield sites we could use,” the Cefn Fforest ward councillor said.

“What we are doing is not supporting the views of the people.”

However Chris Boardman, from the council’s planning team, said the loss of the greenfield site is “beyond the scope of this application”.

The committee was told that reserved matters applications are limited to considering the appearance, landscaping, layout and scale of development.

The development will include 41 affordable homes – managed by housing association Pobl – and a range of one-, two-, three- and four-bedroomed homes.

The committee approved the application, with ten voting in favour and four against.

Planning system not working

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Nigel Dix said: “Something is fundamentally wrong with the planning system in Wales when an application for 115 houses is rejected by the planning committee, later approved by the planning inspector, and then five years later we end up with another 49 houses.

“The council has no control of what’s going on and the Welsh Government should look at this and start to deal with this issue

“Maybe it’s working for developers – but not for residents.”