A controversial 1,200 home development on green fields in north Cardiff looks set to go ahead after Welsh Government Minister Carl Sargeant said he was minded to approve it.
Mr Sargeant, who has the final say on the scheme, issued his decision letter on Thursday afternoon - some seven months after a public inquiry into the application was held in May 2015.
Residents of neighbouring areas, including Cyncoed, Pontprennau and Pentwyn, fear the development will cause huge traffic problems in those areas.
In his letter, Mr Sargeant revealed that the plannning inspector who held the inquiry had recommended that the development, known as Churchlands, be granted approval.
And he said he was minded to agree subject to a series of changes to the Section 106 agreement between the city council and the developer.
In a letter sent to parties involved in the scheme he wrote: “The inspector recommended that the appeal be allowed and planning permission be granted subject to conditions.
“I am minded to accept the inspector’s recommendation but I consider that before any planning permission can be granted, a number of issues arising from the section 106 unilateral undertaking need to be resolved.”
The changes appear mainly to relate to affordable housing, the clarification of ambiguities in the application and assurances that builder Redrow and the Guernsey-based landowner South Wales Land Developments agree to the changes.
Some of the roads and junctions likely to be affected by the development
Churchlands is just the first phase of development of the site, east of Lisvane, which is ultimately expected to provide 4,500 new homes.
The site is controversial as the land was previously owned by the Welsh Government but was sold for £15,000 an acre, the price of cheap farmland, in 2012.
With planning permission, parts of it would be valued at £2m an acre.
Related: Land earmarked for a huge expansion of Cardiff was sold as cheap farmland just three years ago
At the public inquiry last year, campaigners expressed concerns about the impact on the development on the city.
They argued that the existing road network could not cope with the additional traffic from the Churchlands development.
Geoff Edmunds, a spokesman for the Pontfaen Residents Committee, said the inevitable traffic increase would create a “severe blight” on neighbouring communities Cyncoed, Pontprennau and Pentwyn.
The council had argued that the plans for new homes did not have a master plan with it, but the developer, represented by Christopher Katkowski, denied that saying there was a “well-informed and robust master plan for the whole application”.
He argued the developer had included a “well thought out, impressive, expensive transport strategy” and that it would help the council meet its target of a five-year-supply of housing.
A City of Cardiff spokesperson said: “The council has received a copy of the Minister’s letter and has no comment to make at this stage.”
The scheme would be one of the biggest housing developments Cardiff has seen in recent years.
see-http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/controversial-1200-home-churchlands-development-10737205
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