A north Pembrokeshire county councillor is continuing his fight against a housing development in a small coastal village that has been backed by the National Park.
Cllr Neil Prior has updated his constituents on steps he is taking to oppose plans for 11 houses – two of which are one bedroom affordable units – in Trefin, narrowly approved by Pembrokeshire Coast National Park in July.
Cllr Prior said he has submitted a second pre-action letter following legal advice indicating “there are still very strong grounds for a judicial review of this decision.”
He added that the grounds for the review are: “1. The Authority failed to have proper regard for and/or misinterpreted Policy 47 and Appendix 4 of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Local Development Plan 2 (‘LDP2’); and
“2. The Authority failed to secure adequate affordable housing provision in respect to the Development Proposal.”
A response to his submission is expected shortly and Cllr Prior has requested that the proposal be brought back to committee.
The application includes two, two bedroom houses, four, three bed houses, four, four bedroom houses and two, one bedroom maisonettes built on land adjacent to Cefn Gallod – a small street of houses – with a new entrance created for construction traffic, but not for resident access following completion.
When the application was discussed in July the vote was split and the chairman Dr Madeleine Havard’s deciding vote meant it was narrowly approved despite a number of local objections and concerns.
At the meeting Cllr Prior said he had submitted a pre-action protocol letter on grounds relating to the development layout and lack of affordable housing provision.
He had some support from National Park members with Cllr Reg Owens moved refusal of the application on the ground of impact on quality of life and well-being of the residents and highway issues while Cllr Peter Morgan added that residents had “pleaded” with him to not allow access through Cefn Gallod where parking is “already bonkers.”
Cllr Prior added after the decision was made: “I’m not anti-planning or anti-housing, far from it, but this particular application is wrong for the community on so many levels, which the current policies do little to mitigate.
“I’m grateful for the support, but hugely disappointed by this outcome.”