Why is it OK to build thousands of homes on open countryside but don't you dare build 10 homes on a derelict farm?

 

The derelict Gamford Farm site

A proposal to build 10 energy-efficient homes on the site of a derelict farm near Rossett provided a good example of how the planning system works.

Monday night's planning committee approved 10 new houses on a derelict site of farm outbuildings. They went against the recommendation of the chief planning officer who produced a remarkable argument to reject the proposal. The Local Development Plan, he said, does not allow for the development as it would be "harmful to the countryside".

This is the same LDP that has allowed the allocation of thousands of houses in open countryside on three sides of Wrecsam, plans that would see significant and lasting harm to the countryside. By contrast, building new housing on a brownfield site that is 300 metres from the centre of Rossett. 

The LDP has got rid of protection of large swathes of green fields, which are important for food security, for our environment and to preserve the green spaces between our local communities. What the LDP does is create urban sprawl that, if it's allowed to happen, would see the villages of Bersham and Gwersyllt, Rhosrobin and Pandy coalesce with Wrecsam.

So why is that permissable while 10 homes on a brownfield site is not permitted?

This is how the planning system as it is works - for big housing developers rather than more sustainable housing developments. For profit not for communities. 

The development may now be called in by the Welsh Government. Given its woeful record on protecting open countryside and pathetic record on building organic communities, I wouldn't hold my breath.