During the Vale of Glamorgan's Planning Committee on the 4th June, councillors recommended a refusal of Taylor Wimpey's plans for 200 houses on green fields at Weycock Cross, Barry.

As the developer has already called in this application for determination by the planning inspectorate, this vote was purely indicative of the council’s intention.

This outcome does however, when compared with other housing decisions, suggests some inconsistency in approach to planning issues and decisions.

The same council has now changed the status of the green field Land West of Swanbridge Road in Sully from reserved status to fully included status within the Deposit Local Development Plan.

This is in spite of a large number of representations during the LDP consultation phase opposing any inclusion of this site.

We are aware that Taylor Wimpey now has control of most of this land, in addition to that relating to the existing 350 house application still awaiting decision.

There is therefore, every likelihood of an application for potentially another 300 houses on this site at some point soon.

An application to build 200 houses on land at the Sully BP Sports and Social club is also expected from developers St. Modwen any time now.

We now find ourselves in a situation where 850 houses could be built in Sully in the next few years.

This will have a huge impact, not just on the Sully community but also on Penarth, an area itself earmarked for an additional 350 houses near Cosmeston and 70 applied for near St Joseph’s School, Sully Road.

Whilst determining the Weycock Cross application, council members cited traffic chaos and erosion of "Green Wedge" land between Barry and Rhoose as some of the reasons for refusal.

Labour Councillor John Drysdale (Illtyd), is quoted as saying, "The green wedge between Barry and Rhoose is there to prevent encroachment and coalescence and of course they don't happen by one big step, they happen in increments.

This would be, for me, the first step in a kind of creep out from Barry towards Rhoose."

Surely the same arguments should be applied to all local planning policy? Building on green fields and open recreational space between Sully and Penarth will cause encroachment and coalescence.

These developments will also cause traffic chaos on already congested road systems. As the councillor would say, this would the first step in a kind of creep out from Sully towards Penarth.

The concerns voiced by the Council over Weycock Cross should apply to the development policy and decision making processes throughout the Vale of Glamorgan and not just in Barry.

There are many other reasons why the Sully developments should not proceed including issues with flooding and sewage works capacity however we feel that the same arguments used on one application refusal should also apply to the consideration of other similar applications.

The responses by the Council to LDP representations from residents are summarised in Appendix 1 Deposit LDP Consultation Summary Report available on the Vale Council website.

When reading this one can’t help but feel that concerns raised by members of the community are being dismissed without evidence based responses.

Given it won’t be that long before the democratic process of local government elections starts perhaps councillors should take the views of the electorate more seriously and logically when regarding planning applications.

Julian Wynn (for Saving Sully www.savingsully.org.uk)