Swansea Council rejects claims it used wrong boundary over planning application
City and County of Swansea Council has rejected an allegation that it used the wrong boundary to appraise a planning application that affects the Gower area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB).
Mumbles Action Group said the council should delay the decision until the dispute could be resolved.
It concerns a plan, recommended for approval by officers for a meeting next week, for comprehensive re-development at Mumbles Headland including a 69-rooms hotel, 26 flats and various retail and catering facilities.
A council report noted: “A letter of objection from Geldards Solicitors on behalf of Mumbles Action Group has been received.
“The letter makes the accusation that the AONB boundary has been amended from the original boundaries without following the necessary legislative procedures and have requested that any decision in relation to the current reserved matters approval is delayed until this issue is investigated and resolved.”
Swansea admitted that it would be unlawful to reach a decision without reference to the correct AONB boundary.
But it said investigations by legal officers, planners and staff of the Gower AONB had established that the AONB was accurately depicted on Swansea’s proposals map for its unitary development plan adopted in 2008, and the boundary had not as objectors claimed been moved in error when the map was digitised in 2010.
The report said: “Outline planning approvals and subsequent Section 73 applications, were assessed against the accurate AONB boundary, but moreover were assessed against the impact of the development on the AONB regardless of whether the development lies within the AONB, sits astride the boundary or abuts it.”
Mark Smulian
