"Rhoddwyd caniatâd” - permission granted for a high quality 75 bedroom elderly care home in Cardiff

Location:
Cardiff County Council

Issue:
Securing planning permission for a 75 bedroom elderly care home on undeveloped land, and avoiding over £50,000 of financial contributions.

How we helped and added value:
The existing site was an undeveloped plot on a prominent junction, so it was our client’s ambition to secure permission for a high quality and attractive building that provided enough elderly care bed spaces to be operationally and financially viable.

The application was prepared during the height of lockdown, and we were therefore unable to undertake our usual method of face-to-face public consultation. We also had to ensure compliance with Welsh planning legislation, which required us to make all of the draft planning application documents and plans available for local residents and technical consultees. We therefore adapted to the changing circumstances by adopting an online based approach and more interactive process with direct communication with individual residents throughout the consultation.

We worked closely with the Council during the pre-application and planning application processes to resolve concerns around the impact of the care home on residential amenity, and landscaping design. With regards to the former, concerns primarily centred on the noise impact of the care home on both neighbouring properties and future care home residents, and we demonstrated that by installing mitigation measures such as acoustic glazing and ventilation systems, there would be no adverse impact. The Council’s landscaping and trees officers also required a very high level of detail upfront, prior to the planning application being determined, and so we liaised with the Council to come up with a cost-effective solution for our client.

Through working with the Council and consultees, we secured approval of the application under delegated powers, without the need to be heard at planning committee. The Council sought to impose some strict planning conditions on the permission, but, having built up a strong relationship with the planning officer, we negotiated for the majority of these to be relaxed in the client’s favour. We also saved our client over £50,000 in section 106 contributions, resulting in no section 106 agreement being required.