A FORMER soldier’s hopes of building a new home in Fleur de Lis have met reluctant opposition from councillors.
Applicant Adam Cavender told Caerphilly County Borough Council’s planning committee he had served 18 years in the army, including in Afghanistan and Iraq, and had “lost my hearing for this country”.
He resubmitted his bid to build a detached home and garage on “disused” and “overgrown” land near Summerfield Terrace, after a previous attempt proved unsuccessful.
Mr Cavender questioned why planning permission for an “extremely large” home had been approved nearby, and said he would “just want to be treated fairly” by the council.
Cllr Teresa Heron, Caerphilly Council’s ‘Armed Forces champion’, told the committee there was a “clear precedent” for development in the area, and argued Mr Cavender’s plans should be supported.
She explained the Armed Forces Covenant, to which the council has signed up, states serving or former members of the military should “not be disadvantaged when accessing public services”.
“This is not about special treatment, it’s about ensuring equality,” Cllr Heron added.
Council planner Joshua Burrows said officers had recommended the application be rejected because the site is “outside the settlement limits” set by the council, and within a so-called “green wedge” of agricultural land.
The proposed new home would be considered an “unduly large structure”, he added.
But committee member Cllr Shane Williams said there are “quite a lot of large houses in that area”.
Cllr Kristian Woodland asked about Mr Cavender’s claims of fairness, given another home had been approved nearby.
Senior planning officer Carwyn Powell said planning permission for that property had been granted before the council published its current Local Development Plan – a strategic blueprint setting out where homes can and cannot be built.
It was therefore “not possible to compare” the two cases, he explained.
Mr Powell also defended the officers’ recommendations in light of the Armed Forces Covenant, which he said had been respected in this case.
“We would refuse an application for any other member of the public” for the proposed development, he said, adding: “The person is not being treated differently to anyone else.”
It ultimately took intervention from the committee chairman for a decision to be reached, after no committee members initially backed the officers’ recommendation to refuse planning permission.
Cllr Roy Saralis, the committee chairman, told colleagues “the Armed Forces Covenant has been taken into account”.
Planning permission was refused by a majority vote.
