Pembrokeshire County Council’s cabinet member for housing and regulatory services has said that she is disappointed that many objecting to the Brynhir housing scheme in Tenby still believe it will be a private development creating second homes when it is very much focused on delivering a ‘local development for local people’.

Cabinet member Clr. Pat Davies, met last week at County Hall with members of Tenby town council and the resort’s county councillors to discuss the pre-planning housing application at Brynhir which has been earmarked for a scheme consisting of 145 new homes.

The scheme which has been drawn up by RLH Architectural Solutions, with The Urbanists (who are acting as planning consultants on the scheme and are responsible for managing and submitting the proposed planning application) comprises of a mix of bungalows, two storey semi-detached properties, executive houses, one and two-bedroomed flats and three-storey flat buildings, with 102 of the units designated as social housing, 34 for the open market and nine under a shared ownership scheme.

The meeting heard how the layout on site, which was out for statutory pre-application consultation had been revised from the initial design to reflect comments from Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority officers to create a 15 metre ecology buffer zone around the development.

Originally Sperricombe Lane had been proposed to be used as the access road but this was a bridleway and a new access road was proposed.

This had also been slighted amended from that on the pre-application consultation plans to reflect PCNPA’s desire to protect the historic style at the entrance to the site off the top of Upper Hill Park, and PCC were now proposing to make this style a feature of the estate.

There would also be some reconfiguration of some of the dwellings and the MUGA (Multi Use Games Area) to accommodate this realignment of the access road.

To also preserve the ecology, one area of land which was included in the Local Development Plan (LDP) was now going to be left undeveloped, with the suggestion that this area could be subject to a tree planting scheme.

The intention was that all existing trees on the site would be retained with planting of more, natural species proposed as part of the landscaping scheme, with wildflower planting also proposed.

A number of reports had been commissioned including a Visual Impact assessment, an agricultural impact assessment and an assessment of historic mining activity.

A full ecology survey had also been commissioned in April which would report back in October.

The design of the junction with the main road was also being looked at, while Welsh Water had confirmed that the treatment works at Gumfreston had the capacity to include this development while there would be permeable membranes and an attenuation basin to handle storm water run-off.

Clr. Davies said that she noted the opposition to the scheme and PCC were taking concerns on board. However, she was disappointed that many of the objectors still felt that this was going to be a private development, creating the likelihood of the properties being second homes empty for a considerable time.

She said that this was a County Council development and approximately 70 per cent of the dwellings would be council houses. With no ‘Right to Buy’ in Wales anymore, these would be retained as council houses.

These were designed to be ‘Homes for Life’ and PCC would be exceeding the standards set out by the Welsh Government. These were bigger more spacious units than many private developments, which was one of the reasons the number of dwelling had been reduced from 168 that the LDP allowed.

Clr. Davies explained that all council dwellings on site would also be subject to the local connection policy on first let, stating that this was very much a local development for local people and that PCC were even considering a competition in the local schools for children to name the estate roads.

The meeting heard that provision for pedestrian and cycle links to Slippery Back while also preserving the ecology buffer zone would be investigated, after town councillors along with Tenby Civic Society flagged this up.

Speaking at Tuesday night’s meeting of the town council, Clr. Laurence Blackhall told his fellow councillors that the concerns of people who didn’t want to see second homes being built on this land has been addressed with 70 per cent of he dwellings to be council houses, for people with a Tenby connection.

“PCC have genuinely listened to every one of the concerns raised and everyone has been answered. Checks have been made on ecological positions and drainage capacity - and the scheme will incorporate a ‘green buffer zone’ to establish an ecological corridor, along with an ‘urban park’ to allow for dog walkers and the like to enjoy the countryside. Lots of consideration has been given to the genuine concerns, which I don’t disagree with, and PCC responding to them is an ongoing process at this stage of the application.

“We want to make sure that the development serves the people of Tenby whilst also protecting a really important part of the environment,” continued Clr. Blackhall.

Clr. Blackhall said that he found a letter published in the Observer last week suggesting that Tenby Town Council members who supported the development would be in an ‘environment quite different to where they live now, or possibly be closer then to Brynhir without a view’ in ten years time ‘offensive’.

“It is not my intention to be in the cemetery in ten years time, and I found that remark quite offensive,” he told his colleagues.

“We are dealing with fact here, not the fiction outlined in that correspondence. People stating that they are ‘writers’ - well the ability to pick up a pen does not make a writer!” he added.

The mayor of Tenby, Clr. Tony Brown concurred with his colleague’s comments and said that some of the comments he’d read on social media opposing the development showed ‘short-sightedness’ and he didn’t agree with some of the ‘warmongering’ that was going on in the community.

Tenby Civic Society have stated that although the local objections to the loss of the land as informal recreation space do have weight, they believe that as Tenby’s housing market turnover is now even more badly weighted towards the growth of holiday lets than to second homes, the inclusion of a lot of social rented housing with local allocation in the Brynhir proposals, will help counterbalance this ‘hollowing out’ of the local community and residence.

“The large proportion of green space included in the proposals is very welcome,” said a spokesperson for the Civic Society.

“The retention of existing footpaths, rights of way and customary paths is welcome and will allow many local walkers to continue to use much of the routes they use now.

“Reports to assess the impacts on wildlife of clearing green spaces for roads and buildings will be needed. The lack of road connections to (and thereby an additional large volume of traffic through) Upper Hill Park and Seascape is welcome,” they added, welcoming the fact that existing tree preservation orders are respected in the designs proposed, but pointing out that a full tree and hedge survey is needed.