A call to build homes at a former village school playing fields site in Ceredigion, which included affordable housing and an offer to support the village’s play area, has been given the go-ahead despite being recommended for refusal.

In an application recommended for refusal at the September meeting of Ceredigion County Council’s development management committee, permission was sought for a Residential Development in outline of six dwellings with 50 per cent of them being affordable units, on land adjacent to Yr Hen Ysgol, Llanwnnen.

The school itself closed back in 2017, the school building later being converted to a home, the application before the committee relating to a proposed development in the former playing fields area.

A report for members said the applicants were also proposing a financial contribution towards the play area located in Llanwnnen, maintained by the community council, equating to £1,000 per dwelling, adding: “The community council has confirmed its support for this contribution and has advised that the funding would assist with the enhancement of existing play and recreational facilities within the village.”

The scheme was referred to the committee at the request of local member Cllr Euros Davies on grounds including the 50-50 mix of affordable housing, the village having good transport links and facilities, the site being three miles from the new school of Ysgol Dyffryn Cledlyn and the offer of the £6,000 contribution towards the upkeep of the park “which will benefit the children and the elderly to visit for their welfare to play and socialise”.

The application was recommended for refusal on the grounds that, on the adopted development plan, Llanwnen was a ‘linked settlement,’ which had already exceed the level of housing allocated in that plan, where policy “only allows further residential development where justified by a demonstrated need for affordable housing or a rural enterprise dwelling,” adding: “It would further increase housing growth in a settlement that has already substantially exceeded its provision and would exacerbate the existing imbalance within the Lampeter Settlement Group.”

At the meeting, a call to go against the officers’ recommendation was made by Cllr Meirion Davies, on the grounds of the affordable housing and offer for the play area contributions.

Follow councillor Gareth Lloyd disputed the location, close to Lampeter, not being a sustainable one, saying: “If this isn’t sustainable nowhere else in Ceredigion is sustainable.”

Members voted against the recommendation of refusal, passing the outline application.