Castle Green looks to overturn ‘unreasonable’ refusal of 315 Ewloe homes
Flintshire County Council will have to defend its decision to reject the application, which had been denied last year against officer recommendation and after nearly two hours of debate.
Castle Green Homes’ pitch had been to develop a 25-acre site off Holywell Road in Ewloe into a 315-home neighbourhood, with 126 affordable homes included and four acres of public open space.
Flintshire County Council voted to reject the application in December, which was the second time the project had been before the committee. It had been deferred the month previous to find more information about proposed drainage strategies.
The scheme was rejected for three reasons: overdevelopment, its diversion of a public right of way, and the grouping of affordable housing.
Castle Green is seeking full costs as part of the appeal, alleging that the county council had exhibited “unreasonable behaviour” in its decision.
The housebuilder noted that reasons for refusal were only decided after the vote to reject the application had been taken.
The point around overdevelopment, Castle Green argues in its appeal papers, is not valid as though the local development plan allocates the site for 298 homes, this is not a maximum number or a ceiling. Other projects, the housebuilder states, prove that density is suitable for the area.
In the appeal, Castle Green writes: “No urban design assessment, density comparison, or amenity study was produced to substantiate member’s assertions of ‘overdevelopment’. This demonstrates that the council did not have any evidence to substantiate the [reason for refusal] and it is unreasonable.”
Regarding the public right of way, the path is diverted in Castle Green’s proposals but still maintained on the site.
Castle Green also took issue with the criticism around the grouping of affordable housing, noting that councillors were looking at an out-of-date document regarding the layout and that the scheme does mix the affordable and market homes.
Castle Green worked with Ascerta, E3P, Baldwin Design Consultancy, TPM Landscape Architects, Coopers, and NKC Geotech on the proposals.
Regarding the decision to appeal, Stuart Andrew, pre-construction director at Castle Green Homes, said: “We were disappointed that our plans for 315 new homes in Ewloe were refused by Flintshire County Council’s Planning Committee late last year, a decision that was contrary to the recommendation for approval given by the Council’s Planning Officers.
“We have lodged an appeal against that decision, which was recently registered. We’re confident that the appeal will be successful as the site is allocated for housing in the Flintshire local plan and was a proposal previously recommended for approval due to it being considered totally policy compliant, delivering local infrastructure improvements, significant financial contributions an over-provision of affordable housing.
“Pending the appeal we’ve also submitted a revised planning application for 276 new homes, which we expect to be determined by the council next month.”
You can learn more about the application at the heart of the appeal by searching reference FUL/000429/24 on Flintshire’s planning portal. To review the appeal documents, search CAS-04951-Q2L5M6 on the Planning and Environment Decisions Wales portal.
