A HOUSEBUILDER has been given more time to complete a development of up to 300 homes at a former student village in Swansea.
The company, St Modwen, can also increase the density of housing in a corner of the site off Gower Road, Sketty.
It had applied to Swansea Council to vary an existing permission from 2018 to redevelop the old Hendrefoilan Student Village, and members of the council’s planning committee unanimously approved the application at a meeting on June 3.
Committee members heard the first three phases of development at Hendrefoilan Park, as it’s called, were either complete or due for completion. The current application would, if granted, allow St Modwen more time to submit detailed schemes for the final two phases of the project.
A report before the committee said the sloping topography of the site presented a viability concern to the company but that the limit of 300 homes would not be exceeded by increasing the density in one corner.
“It’s very unlikely they will hit 300 – (but) they want to establish as many as possible within that parameter,” said a planning officer.
A planning agent from Savills, on behalf of St Modwen, said it was confident of delivering an “excellent scheme in a sustainable location” and that no new objections needed addressing.
The planning report said 10% of the homes at Hendrefoilan Park would be affordable and that 15 of them had already been built. St Modwen has contributed an index-linked payment of just over £942,000 to Swansea’s education department to expand Hendrefoilan Primary School and nearly £29,000 for traffic light improvements at the Gower Road-Wimmerfield Road junction to the west.
Outline planning permission to redevelop the student village was originally granted nine years ago. The remaining student blocks in the north-east corner of the site will be demolished to make way for the final two phases of homes.
Committee members asked if surface water run-off impacts could be affected by the housing density increase and whether traffic surveys had been carried out. New drainage requirements, said the planning officer, will need to be met when St Modwen submits further detailed applications.
