110 HOMES in Denbighshire were given the go-ahead to be built on greenfield land, despite concerns about the environment and global warming.

Denbighshire County Council’s planning committee met on Wednesday (November 9) to discuss Castle Green’s plans to build 110 dwellings, including the construction of vehicle access and landscaping.

Mr Matt Christie submitted the plans to build the homes on land adjacent to Ysgol Pendref on Gwaenynog Road, Denbigh, following an earlier application being turned down.

Whilst councillors said they were concerned about the loss of a greenfield site, especially in light of the COP 22 discussions, officers recommended the application for approval.

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Officers argued the land was already cited for residential development in the council’s local development plan (LDP), adding an agreement had been made guaranteeing 20% of the homes would be affordable – with room to up that figure to up to 80%.

Denbighshire’s legal and planning team said negotiations with the developer were ongoing about increasing the number of affordable homes in the plans – although a final agreement had not yet been reached.

But Cllr Huw Hilditch-Roberts questioned how councillors could vote in favour of the plans without a solid legal agreement being in place to guarantee the exact number of affordable homes.

“I hear the 20%, (but) how much wriggle room is there for the developer not to deliver on the other number (the higher number of homes) in the future?” said Cllr Hilditch-Roberts.

“Granting the application today at 20% (of affordable homes), that’s set in stone and can’t be moved; however, the legal agreement is not binding and signed, so how binding can it be if we are supporting an application that might be legal in the future because my suggestion would be wouldn’t it be better for the applicant to come to the committee with the full allocation of affordable homes so we are passing the full legal document in the committee binding the developer?”

He added: “Because what I’m fearing is ‘do you know what we can play some games after this’, and maybe we’ll only get 20% at the end of the day.”

But officers warned councillors shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth as, according to legislation, the developer only had to allocate 10% of homes as affordable housing.

Councillors were also told that increasing the number of affordable housing to up to 80% was subject to a successful social housing grant bid to Welsh Government, which relied on planning permission being in place.

It was explained that social housing landlord Adra could lose these grants if the application was turned down, leading to fewer affordable homes.
Cllr Hilditch-Roberts also asked what was different about the new plans from the previously refused application.

Officers said there had been changes to the highway arrangements but added the previous application had also met the council’s policy and technical requirements.

Denbigh Town Council had already objected to the plans after town councillors said they were concerned about the removal of hedgerows amongst other issues, including insufficient infrastructure in the town.

Councillors conceded it was a difficult decision to make, considering they could lose if the applicant appealed.

Fifteen councillors voted in favour of the plans with two against and one abstention.