Nia Griffith MP has hit out at what she claims is the greed involved in a new development of 240 homes at Genwen Farm near Bynea, which received full planning permission at the planning committee meeting of Carmarthenshire County Council on Tuesday (Jul 11). Residents and local councillors from the rural, town and County council expressed their concerns over the large scale development citing flooding, traffic problems, safety issues and the impact on what they claimed was an already overstretched infrastructure where there were shortages of GP’s and no places at local schools as reasons for turning down the application. Despite this the planning committee went ahead and approved the plans. They had been given some legal guidance, which asserted that the developer would have cause to appeal given that the outline planning had already been approved and that the site was within the council’s own LDP and in line with their own policies.
Speaking to Llanelli Online the Llanelli MP said: “I am very concerned at the Planning Committee’s perverse decision to grant planning permission for 240 houses on the Genwen fields directly above the village of Bynea, which has been the scene of severe flooding in the past. It is difficult to understand how this was passed *when a much smaller application nearby for 40 houses on Station Road was turned down with increased traffic on an unsuitable road cited as a reason. There has been very considerable and welcome development in other parts of Bynea in recent years, but this application smacks of greed not need. With the County Council only requiring a £10,000 contribution from the developer for the maintenance of each surface water attenuation pond, it won’t be long before this becomes a burden on the council taxpayer. The committee should have listened to local people and the strong case against the development by their local councillors.”
*At the council meeting of Tuesday (Jul 11) officers stated that the Station Road application had been withdrawn.
