A COMMUNITY council has refused to include a motion on its agenda which called for action over flooding problems in Caerphilly county borough.

Plaid Cymru councillor Daniel Llewellyn put forward a motion calling on Bedwas, Trethomas and Machen community council to urge Caerphilly County Borough Council and Natural Resources Wales to tackle the problem of flooding.

But despite submitting the motion ahead of the seven-day minimum notice period, it was not included on the community council’s agenda for last Thursday’s meeting.

Chairman of the community council, Cllr Chris Morgan said the motion was “politically motivated” and that there was a “heavy agenda” for the meeting.

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Labour councillors have also criticised the motion for proposing that no new homes are built in the area and have called on the Plaid Cymru group leadership to disown it.

The motion noted there were “a number of localised flooding issues across the ward” caused by issues such as run-off of water into residential areas from Bedwas mountain, overflow from the the lagoon at Bedwas tip and blocked drains from fallen leaves leading to flooding in Trethomas.

It said: “This council resolves to urge the relevant authorities, Caerphilly County Borough Council and Natural Resources Wales to draw up a plan outlining measures to tackle and solve these issues.

“This council also resolves to call on Caerphilly County Borough Council to reject all future housing development proposals in the Caerphilly Basin, including Bedwas, Trethomas and Machen until the potential flood hazard, caused by such developments is properly assessed, taking into account the increasing rainfall caused by climate change.”

Cllr Llewellyn said: “It beggars belief that the community council does not feel able to discuss an issue which is causing real anxiety to our residents in our community.

“If it is not to discuss problems like flooding and take action, I have to wonder what the community council stands for.”

Local resident and Plaid campaigner Marc Hubbard added: “It is a crying shame that the community council cannot support representations to ensure that residents are protected from flooding in the future.”

However Cllr Morgan said the community council has been “getting a lot of motions from Plaid Cymru which are politically motivated”.

He said the county borough council would be better placed to discuss the issues in the motion.

“We are a small council full of volunteers and we are bombarded with stuff we can’t do anything about,” he said.

“The clerk and myself decided there was nothing we could do and there was a really heavy agenda for that meeting.

“We didn’t want to get bogged down with something we couldn’t do anything about.”

Labour ward councillors Lisa Phipps, June Gale, Derek Havard and Elizabeth Aldworth called the motion “an insult to residents on low income in need of a new council home”.

“Are Plaid members in Bedwas, Trethomas and Machen really saying that there should not be any new council housing in the whole of the Caerphilly Basin?” they said in a joint statement.

“Why are they intent on trying to deny people on low incomes the opportunity to rent a new high quality, social home.”