PLANS for more than 300 houses in Dinas Powys could see renewed hopes of a highly anticipated bypass dashed again, a councillor fears.

Conservative community councillor Vince Driscoll says a council plan to sell off land at the former St Cyres Lower School site could mean there is never enough room in the area for the bypass plan to progress.

The sale of the land, between the top of the Murch and Sully Road, would - cllr Driscoll has said - encroach on the only area which could be used for a bypass.

The site has been earmarked for a potential bypass since the 1920s, and is generally accepted as the only possible route for it.

The council's most recent Local Development Plan (LDP), which is currently under investigation by the Welsh Government planning inspectorate, made no room for it though, and an official council letter sent to neighbouring properties recently revealed plans to sell the former school land land to developers Barratt David Wilson "by the end of this calendar year or very early in the new year".

The council appeared to rule the bypass out completely in August due to a lack of funding, but the idea was recently given fresh hope when Welsh Government economy minister Ken Skates said he was willing to work with the local authority to find a solution to the "unique issue".

But there are fears that if the development goes through, it could once again render the proposal dead in the water.

The former St Cyres school site is is identified as part of a mixed-use development for residential, community and recreational uses in the LDP.

But cllr Driscoll says further consideration should be given to how that could affect any possible bypass.

"The council failed to identify the long-established line of the by-pass when they offered the school site for sale for mixed residential and community development," he said.

"We are concerned at the knock-on effect the sale of the land will have.

"We’d all have to live with the increasing traffic log-jam for ever more."

Councillor Peter King, the Vale's cabinet member for building services, highways and transportation, said: "I have written to the minister for infrastructure on the subject of a Dinas Powys bypass, while the Vale of Glamorgan Council’s head of visible services and transport will speak with counterparts in Welsh Government about the issue next month.

"In the meantime, the council must consider proposals for land any potential bypass could occupy and we are currently in legal discussions with developer Barratt David Wilson regarding the former St Cyres Lower School site.

"No planning application to develop the land has currently been received.

"If one is made, it will be subject to the usual rigorous scrutiny and public consultation, enabling residents to have their say on the issue.”

The Vale Conservatives are holding a public meeting at the Lee Hall on Tuesday November 29, at 7.30pm.

The public meeting will be chaired by Andrew RT Davies, the leader of the Welsh Conservatives.