'Refreshing to have planning committee that considers the environment'

It was refreshing that Torfaen’s Planning Committee did not allow even more houses on a site that should never have been developed. Perhaps now that the ‘old guard’ of Torfaen politicians and planners have gone, planning policy will be more environmentally sustainable, not just pursuing development of every green space between the Newport boundary and Abersychan, in search of the mythical ‘growth benefits’.

Or maybe not. Planners recommended approval, and the planner at the meeting said that there is a good percentage of ‘affordable housing’ proposed. She must have little experience of how developers use the ‘viability’ argument to reduce affordable units after the expensive housing has been built. If they cannot even comply with a condition to retain a precious hedge, it is clear that once they have planning permission, conditions mean nothing.

I hope we do at last have a Planning Committee that actually considers the environment, heritage and local community (and the Committee’s refusal to allow a 20-year industrial operation on the remote upland near Pantygasseg gives some hope), after all the new Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act requires all public bodies to ensure the Welsh countryside that we enjoy will remain for our grandchildren and beyond.

Vic Warren

(Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales, local Chairman)