A DECISION affecting the future of green field sites in Caerphilly county borough was met with dismay this week at a special council meeting.

The Deposit Replacement Local Development Plan (LDP) presented a list of potential sites that will be considered for development until 2031 — including several "contentious" green field sites.

Following a “lively” two-hour debate the draft LDP was determined by a listed vote and passed by 36 votes to 17, with the pubic heckling Labour councillors who supported the plan.

An extension of Caerphilly town boundaries is proposed, along with a new road between Van Road and the A469 Mountain Road, to support a 450-500 home development on the former Ness Tar Plant and surrounding land of Nant y Calch Farm.

Members of the Gwern Y Domen Conservation Group staged a peaceful protest outside the Penallta House building at the meeting on Wednesday, opposing the listing of green pastures at Gwern Y Domen and Rudry Road.

They presented a petition of 2,100 signatures to Labour councillor Hefin David, who is standing to be the next AM for the borough.

Mr David voted against the LDP and proposed a wider “strategic” plan for South East Wales that “will relieve pressure in high demand areas.”

He said: “The problem with local development plans like this one is that the 22 councils in Wales develop them separately and at different times.

“It’s like designing the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle individually and then when you try and put them together, they don’t fit.”

Alongside pledging support for members “battling” green field developments, cllr David added that he would “campaign for a strategic development plan to cover all 10 authorities in South East Wales.”

Several Plaid Cymru councillors opposed the LDP and Lindsay Whittle, AM for South Wales East, stated voting for the draft was “simply not an option.”

He said: “We are not here at the behest of greedy householders, landowners and developers but the public who vote for us.

“I say protect our green field sites and it’s a policy that has held for the last 20 years and I think we can defend that in any appeal situation.”

Cries of “shame on you” echoed from the public gallery as council leader cllr Keith Reynolds pleaded with councillors to support the plan — citing the “great shortage” of affordable housing for young people and the elderly in Caerphilly borough.

He added: “I understand all the emotion that comes with this but we are looking at the totality of the plan and if we reject it tonight we have to have an alternative.

“Don’t throw this plan out because there are some contentious sites that people don’t like.”

Professor Stephen Dunnett, chairman of the Gwern Y Domen conservation group believed that many councillors who voted for the plan “did so with a heavy heart."

He added: “We believe they were whipped and threatened with dire alternatives if they didn’t vote for the plan, even though they knew it to be fundamentally wrong."

The LDP will be subject to a six-week public consultation period between Thursday February 11 and Wednesday March 23 giving residents another chance to voice their concerns.

Another vote is then needed by full council before the LDP is formally adopted.