A new housing development in Carmarthenshire has been turned down by a planning inspector who was concerned about the potential effect of coal mine gas emissions on future occupiers.

Christopher Sweet was determining an appeal submitted by a developer called LCCD Property 20 Ltd after Carmarthenshire Council rejected its application for 16 homes off Waterloo Road and Gorsddu Road, Penygroes, near Cross Hands.

Mr Sweet said geotechnical and mine gas risk assessment reports submitted on behalf of the developer were robust, with the latter recommending a programme of gas monitoring to quantify the risk to people living in the homes in the future.

His decision report said the monitoring hadn’t been undertaken and the assessment didn’t indicate whether such risks could be effectively overcome by remediation or mitigation measures. “The exact level of risk to future occupiers has therefore not been established,” it said.

Mr Sweet added that the council’s planning department did not appear to have considered the matter in any detail before turning down the proposal last November.

He acknowledged that LCCD Property 20 Ltd had recommended monitoring could be required by a planning condition, but he took the view that given the nature of the proposed development and the mine gas risk assessment’s conclusions a precautionary approach was necessary.

“It has not been demonstrated that the proposal would avoid harm to the safety of future occupiers, and on the evidence before me I am not persuaded that conditions would provide sufficient certainty, such that granting planning permission would be justified,” said his decision report.

The Welsh Government-appointed inspector considered other matters such as an affordable housing agreement, plus other planning obligations, which the applicant was said to be willing to enter into with the council although no mechanism for securing them had been set out.

One issue of concern for local residents was a proposed access road to the houses from Waterloo Road and loss of a small number of on-street parking spaces, but Mr Sweet said the proposal would not result in harm to highway safety.

There were also objections by Llandybie Community Council and the committee and trustees of the Penygroes Memorial Hall, which the access road would be adjacent to.

As part of the appeal, a planning agent on behalf of LCCD Property 20 Ltd challenged the council’s five grounds for refusal in a report and claimed some of its reasoning was “illogical”. But the appeal was dismissed.