Plans for 92 Persimmon Homes on land west of Carmarthen

PLANS for a new phase of housebuilding on land west of Carmarthen have been unveiled.

Persimmon Homes wants to build 92 two, three and four-bedroom houses and flats at the strategic Carmarthen West site, north of the A40.

Eleven of them, according to a design and access statement submitted as part of its planning application to Carmarthenshire Council, would be classed as affordable.

The 92 properties would be built on three hectares of the 130-hectare Carmarthen West site, where 1,100 new homes and a primary school were envisaged over time. That number has been scaled down to 700 under the council’s new local development plan, although the plan hasn’t been approved yet.

The Persimmon Homes site, called Frondeg, would be accessed via a roundabout on Ffordd Pendre – the link road between the A40 and the north of Job’s Well Road.

“The development will be an attractive place to live and play with the retention of existing green infrastructure and the provision of informal open space,” said the design and access statement.

It would have access to shared-use paths alongside Ffordd Pendre, while the nearest bus stops would be 800m away on Job’s Well Road. Some of the houses would have garages, there would be new trees, shrubbery and hedges, although some existing trees would be removed.

A flood consequence assessment said the Frondeg site was classed as “highly vulnerable” under new Welsh Government flood risk planning guidance but that it was expected to meet the requirements of that guidance and be safe “over its lifetime”.

An archeological study said heritage sites in the vicinity included a Bronze Age cemetery and a possible Iron Age enclosure.

To the north-east of the Frondeg site is Maes Y Wennol housing estate; to the south is Persimmon Homes’s Parc Y Onnen scheme.

Carmarthen Town West councillor Russell Sparks said in an email to the council that he welcomed the application.

“The local wildlife and historical importance of the site has been considered and reflected in the build,” he said. “As possibly the area that enjoyed the first stone age settlements in Carmarthen, housing in this area seems appropriate.”

Carmarthen Town North and South councillor Alun Lenny said the planned allocation of 700 rather than 1,100 homes for Carmarthen West was a “more measured and careful proposal”. He added that a new primary school needed.