Bridgend Council’s planning department has thrown out a fresh application for 15 apartments on land between Tondu Road and Pascoes Avenue in Bridgend.
Planners used their legal right to “decline to determine” because the application is (likely) deemed to be too similar to two previous applications. Those two applications were rejected by the council and also thrown out on appeal by planning inspectors.
The planning application was submitted in mid-October and it took planning officers just two weeks to decide to dismiss it again.
The land is a former quarry located just north of Mill Lane. Woodland has since been restored and the site forms part of the Craig-y-Castellnewydd Site of Importance of Nature Conservation (SINC).
The developers proposed two three-storey blocks of apartments with direct access onto the dual carriageway section of Tondu Road, which has a 50mph speed limit.
In the case of the previous two applications, planners not only objected to the impact on the environment but the obvious road safety concerns and the development’s “out of character” nature – which would see two blocks built in a wooded area (albeit this time at a lower height than previous proposals).
In the new application, developers proposed changing the road markings and layout on Tondu Road near Mill Lane and providing a footpath between the development and Mill Lane itself.
They also argue that other developments – such as the Woodridge apartments and the former Tondu Road kennels (which you can see in the distance in the photo) – compromise the SINC too, so development within the wooded area has precedent.
As I understand it, the developer will have a right to appeal (again) as each application has to be treated on its own merits.
