Image Source: Bridgend County Borough Council
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Bridgend Council’s Planning Committee has approved a planning application from Bellway Homes for a 120-home development at the former Craig-y-Parcau residential care home to the south of Broadlands (pdf).
The land was allocated for housing in the Local Development Plan (LDP).
Changes to layout and access
Bellway altered its original proposals following discussions with planning officers.
The development will no longer be accessed directly from the A48 Broadlands roundabout. Instead, a new traffic light junction will be provided to the west of the roundabout.
More detailed proposals have been put forward for an equipped playground, and new pedestrian and cyclist paths will link to the A48, New Inn Road and the public footpath alongside the River Ogmore.
Merthyr Mawr Community Council and Laleston Community Council both raised concerns about road safety, flooding along New Inn Road/near the Dipping Bridge and the impact on wildlife along the river corridor.
New pedestrian crossings on A48 added as a condition
The developers will need to sign a Section 106 agreement. This includes just over £921,000 towards education facilities and just under £204,000 towards outdoor recreation facilities.
The developers will also need to fund traffic orders to reduce the speed limit on the A48 from 50 mph to 40 mph and provide at least £10,000 towards rights-of-way maintenance.
Importantly, planning officers have added a condition for three new user-controlled pedestrian crossings. One will be installed as part of the new traffic light junction, but there will also be a new crossing on the B4622 (Broadlands spine road) and one on the A48 to the east of the Broadlands roundabout.
These crossings will need to be installed before a single home is occupied.
Combined with a lowered speed limit to 40 mph, this would at least partially deliver on council commitments to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety along this stretch of road.
Broadlands roundabout “will be replaced in the future”
During the meeting, there were some questions about the decision to drop direct access from the existing roundabout.
A highways officer said that for other LDP development sites (presumably Island Farm) to come forward, the Broadlands roundabout would eventually be replaced with a staggered (traffic light) junction. So they needed to future-proof the Craig-y-Parcau development.
Cllr. Ian Williams (Ind, Oldcastle) believed the development goes against the spirit of the nature emergency the council has declared. He also queried where the Section 106 money for open spaces and sports facilities would be spent. He was told that it would need to be spent “in the locality”.
The application was unanimously approved.
