PLANS to allow 12,400 houses to be built in Caerphilly county borough up until 2031 were scrapped by councillors last night in a unanimous vote.

The Deposit Replacement Local Development Plan (LDP) which lists developable land in the borough, attracted criticism from environmental groups for proposing thousands houses on greenfield sites.

Following a lengthy public consultation and over 4,500 people signing petitions against the proposals, Caerphilly county borough councillors voted to withdraw the LDP.

The alternative, a strategic development plan (SDP), will see Caerphilly CBC working with Rhondda Cynon Taf and Merthyr to develop a longer term plan

In an opening speech, CCBC’s corporate director for communities Christina Harrhy, explained that withdrawing the LDP could lead to an “increase” in speculative planning applications.

“The withdrawal of our plan could lead to a lack of confidence in our investors in the county borough [...] we would still have an LDP in place (valid until 2021) but we would not be able to demonstrate our five year housing supply,” she said.

“A consequential affect of that is that we anticipate over a long period that there will be planning by appeal and we expect the number of appeals that we will be taking forward by planning committee to increase.”

The council were also told that each planning appeal would cost between £25,000 and £30,000.

Ms Harrhy also added that the SDP would take around 4 -5 years to develop, which will coincide with the end of the end of the council’s existing LDP in 2021.

Caerphilly’s AM Hefin David previously called for an SDP when the Caerphilly’s draft LDP was passed by full council in February 2016.

Speaking at the meeting, he said: “When I spoke in council in February one of the things that I said was that local development plans do not connect very well — Cardiff has a strategy of getting cars off the road and Caerphilly has a plan (in the proposed deposit plan) of getting cars on the road.

“As Christina Harrhy said the risks are back into play and speculative planning applications can happen which is why it’s absolutely imperative now that we move quickly to develop an SDP.”

He added: “It’s imperative that the residents views that were expressed during the consultation process on the LDP are listened to and that the SDP that is developed is one that reflects cross-boundary issues — transport being one, education others.

“What has happened today is that Caerphilly has put its flag in the ground and said ‘we can be one of the lead authorities in the development of strategic planning.

“Let’s not be party-political today. Lets talk to each other and say what can, as 73 councillors, do in order to achieve the SDP because if we work together, we can do it.”

The full council meeting was also told that the cost of the local development plan was £60,000 over three years, excluding staff costs and after taking a £65,000 Welsh Government grant into consideration.

Cabinet member for regeneration and planning, Cllr Ken James, said the money was “not wasted” and that information taken from the consultation would be used in future.

Geoff Cripps, of the Preserve our Woodland campaign group, added: “The council, thankfully now in listening mode, must ensure that any future revision of such plans can only take place with genuine and timely public consultation firmly embedded in the process.

“This group will continue to be vigilant on behalf of local residents and remains ready to work in collaboration with similar groups across the county borough to ensure careful scrutiny of all future planning developments.”

The current LDP will now remain in place but councillors were told to expect an increase in planning appeals unless a longer term plan for housing was established.

The adoption of a strategic plan will also be subject to ministerial approval from Welsh Government