Stradey development - Cllr Caiach writes to the Minister - Updated

Update 27 July: Carl Sargeant replied to Cllr Caiach yesterday and it seems to me that there is some question as to whether the work should have started at all:

"Officials have requested written confirmation from Carmarthenshire County Council, as local planning authority for the area, of their opinion as to whether there has been a lawful commencement of development at the site.
Once the Council’s response to that request has been received officials will be able to progress their consideration of the call-in requests and preparation of advice for me. Until then the call-in requests remain to be determined and the Article 18 Direction preventing the Council from granting planning permission on application S/23311 remains in force."

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Work at the Stradey site to build 355 luxury homes has started. This, readers may remember, was a very contentious issue and all tied up with the council's dream to build the taxpayer draining stadium at Parc Y Scarlets a few miles away. I'll not go over it all again but as you can see below, Cllr Caiach has written to Carl Sargeant, now the Minister in charge of Planning instead of Local Government, and the letter speaks for itself;

Dear Minister, 

The residents of the Stradey Area continue to be anxious and distressed at the continued building by Taylor Wimpey at the Stradey Park site. They are extremely worried about the flood risk likely as the site is clearly being raised above the level of their own dwellings in an area already prone to flooding. 

I am sure you are aware of the implications of the flood water displacement involved in raising acres of land out a C2 flood plain. I have already asked you about the position of the Article 18 "stop" order on the development and whether the Article 18 has been withdrawn as happened with a similar order on this site which was dropped by Jane Davidson on the threat of legal action by Taylor Wimpey some years ago. 

The residents are outraged. The people likely to suffer are the residents of a modest council estate , Iscoed, and a road of small terraced houses, Sandy  Road. They are people of modest means, many are elderly, most have low incomes, a large number rely on benefits and few will be able to relocate to a safer area if the "flood risk mitigation" of raising the land around them goes ahead. These new homes are not for people like them, but for the benefit of others and to the detriment of local people.   

As you are aware, the new development is one of luxury homes only with no social housing or
starter homes. I am aware that my authority, Carmarthenshire County Council, is desperate to have the development completed in order to claim the outstanding £4.6M section 106 agreement. 

This money was to be the "Scarlet's" contribution to the new Parc Y Scarlets Stadium and as the development was delayed the County Council advanced this money to the Scarlets from our reserves. 

The County Council has continued with this project even against the advice of outside auditors who found that the business plan was extremely "challenging". Indeed the auditors have been proved right in that the Scarlets are insolvent, their debts have increased and giving planning permission on a flood plain in order to raise the value of their land so it could be sold to clear their debts has not brought the financial benefits envisaged. 

This leaves my voters as the victims of an ill conceived financial deal to build a stadium and save a private sports club from financial problems. The Stadium has been built, the club is still in the financial mire and local residents will have increased  risk to themselves, their own homes and possessions. 

We have a recession, poor employment prospects and face years of austerity while our authority pushes for luxury homes to be built on artificial cliffs looking down on them. 

I beg you, Mr Sargeant, to look objectively at this farce. The last major flood at the Iscoed estate was in 1981 when it flooded to a maximum depth of 10 feet and many were rescued by boats. Since then, despite the Council raising pavements and garden paths and doorsteps, minor floods occur whenever there is heavy rain and sandbags on the doorstep are a common sight and minor ground floor floods not uncommon. 

Flooding in this area is no theoretical possibility. Most of the water pours off the Stradey Park. The new development will rob the area of the "sponge" effect of the practice pitches next to Iscoed and the raised land will effectively dam the water into the natural depression in which the estate was built.

At a public meeting last week I showed the local audience my routine "17 day" reply response from your department. We felt it would be appropriate for you to reply to us a little faster! The issue is "Can the Government of Wales stop development on dangerous flood plains?" 

Please Answer! 

Regards 

Sian Caiach
County Councillor
Hengoed Ward
Llanelli

(For further background to the controversy surrounding the Council/Stradey/Parc y Scarlets deals please search this blog or Google)