ANGER towards the developers of a housing scheme at the former police training college in Cwmbran has seen plans for a second phase deferred.

Located on Greenmeadow Way, the application from house builder Taylor Wimpey would see 108 ‘residential units’, and a play area, added to 219 homes already built on the site.

But councillors at Torfaen council’s planning meeting have moved to delay a decision on the latest phase, citing a number of concerns with the initial development.

Greenmeadow ward member Cllr Jason O’Connell was reluctant to approve the scheme, suggesting the developers should apologise to the residents of the St Dials ward for not replacing a hedgerow that was removed illegally during the initial phase.

The Independent member said: “The company or developer would have a social or corporate responsibility process – I feel it has fallen short of that.

“The developer in this case has shown a disregard for the community.

“To my mind there’s still a lot of unanswered questions – I think we are all on the fence with this one.”

Cllr Huw Bevan echoed his comments.

“I would not be minded to approve any further development applications until the applicant has undertaken any remedial actions to replace the hedgerow,” he said.

The Llanyrafon East and Ponthir member also sought assurances from the planning team about a “hard and fast” figure over the proportion of affordable housing involved in the scheme, which was set at 30 per cent. Particularly, he added, after the number of total housing was reduced from 456 to 350.

Helen Smith, from Torfaen’s planning team, told the meeting that the first phase of the scheme had met the affordable housing provision, and the same percentage was to be included in the second phase.

She added that the development is a mix of two, three and four bedroom properties in a form of detached, semi-detached and terraced homes, along with two blocks of two storey apartments.

Cllr Stuart Ashley said he felt the developers needed to provide more information about the plans though, while expressing concern about the loss of biodiversity – the proposal covers a what the report called site of interest for nature conversation (SINC), for its grassland.

“There’s several questions I’ve got before we go any further,” said the Labour member.

The committee unanimously supported the decision to defer the proposal.