PLANS to build 350 homes in Sully by housing developer Taylor Wimpey have been met with fierce opposition by local residents.

On Christmas Eve last year the housing developer submitted outline plans for 350 houses to be built on land south of Cog Road in Sully, with associated access and associated works to complement the residential development.

It comes after the housing developer held a public exhibition in July last year outlining their plans to build around 450 homes in the area.

At the time residents voiced concerns about traffic, access to the development and Sully Primary School already being near capacity.

Since then the Vale of Glamorgan Council’s Local Development Plan (LDP) has been published, with proposals for 500 houses at Cog, 235 houses at Upper Cosmeston Farm and to create a permanent traveller site at Hayes Road. The council is currently going through feedback from the consultation period.

A spokesman from Taylor Wimpey said it had developed “a masterplan for the proposed Cog Road scheme” following the consultation and discussions with the Vale Council

He added: “The scheme has been designed to work within the constraints and opportunities of the site to create a sustainable development that reflects the character of the neighbouring properties and respects the village setting.”

Saving Sully’s concerns have been exacerbated after the Welsh Government (WG) recently wrote a letter to the Vale Council saying that it felt the authority’s revised Deposit LDP did not show evidence of enough growth and that it was concerned about the plan’s delivery.

The WG considered there was a shortfall of 500 homes, resulting in raising the housing provision to approximately 10,950 dwellings over the plan period and said housing provision in the Deposit Plan should be an absolute minimum.

In a statement the Saving Sully Group said it was “appalled to hear of the Welsh Government's Planning Managers' notification to the Vale planners of a suggested shortfall of 500 homes in the Council's draft LDP”.

It added: “The group and other local residents have expressed in their representations their firm opinion based on the population and housing statistics that the present housing projection of 10,450 dwellings is excessive in the light of the population projections derived from the most recent census.

“We want our representations to receive full consideration by the Vale Council and by the Inspector to be appointed by the Welsh Government. We cannot understand why the Welsh Government should express these “shortfall” comments at this stage prior to consideration of our representations and we would like to know the evidence justifying these comments, to which we take strong objection.”

The Saving Sully action group will be offering advice sessions to those that wanted to object to the planning application from 10am until 2pm on Saturday, January 25, and Saturday, February 1, at the Old School Hall in Sully. Objections must be made by February 3.