COUNCILLORS are to visit a site in Ebbw Vale next week where 15 affordable homes could be built.

Tai Calon Community Housing applied to Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council for planning permission to build a mixture of flats, bungalows, and semi-detached houses at the former Glan yr Afon (Riverside) Court, Ebbw Vale.

The application was discussed by the council’s planning committee earlier this month, but a decision was postponed due to concerns about the loss of open space at the site.

The decision was to go for a site visit as part of a “fact finding” mission after a motion to defer the application was put forward by Cllr Gareth Davies and backed by the rest of the committee.

At the planning meeting on November 4, local resident Max Newman said that evidence “suggests” that the park has been recreational open space for over 50 years.

Planning committee members confirmed Mr Newman’s view.

Cllr Godfrey Thomas recalled playing in the area while a schoolboy in the 1950s, while Cllr David Wilkshire told the committee he knew it as a recreational area for over 60 years, and said he had taken his grandchildren there.

Tai Calon’s agent Jon Pritchard of Stride Treglown told councillors that the scheme would only use 20 per cent of the undeveloped land at the site.

“The proposal has been designed to maximise the retention and enhance existing open space in this area,” said Mr Pritchard.

The application site is a broadly rectangular parcel of land measuring 0.8 hectares in area.

The north-western part of the site is brownfield land.

This part of the site was where  the former Glan yr Afon Court sheltered housing complex once stood, which has now been demolished.

The site visit is set to take place on Wednesday, November 24 and the application will be discussed at a planning meeting the following day, Thursday, November 25.

Blaenau Gwent planning officers still recommend that the scheme should be approved.

According to the report the number of house types are split into:

  • Three, two-bedroom bungalows;
  • Four, one-bedroom flats;
  • Four, two-bedroom houses; and
  • Four, three-bedroom houses.

MORE NEWS: