People living in Clos Benallt Fawr, Hendy and residents whose properties border on the new Bronallt Road development are united in their determination to put a stop to over-development in the village.

At a meeting held last on Thursday, April 5, which was called due to fears that developers on Bronallt Road were operating outside the area on their planning consent, residents discussed the difficulties of opposing applications for more houses if the site in question is already designated for development in the county council's Local Development Plan.

This was cited as the main reason why permission was given for eight houses last September, despite the best efforts by local residents to oppose the development on Bronallt Road.

Fforest Road residents, opponents of an application for housing to be accessed through the Benallt Fawr cul-de-sac, are worried that even though the application has been turned down that the developers could now try and appeal that decision.

As a result, residents are now calling on those who share their concerns to respond by May 29 to the county council's consultation on the new Local Development Plan because when an area is designated as a possible development area in the LDP, there will usually be a presumption in favour of giving consent to any planning applications on that land.

Nia Griffith MP, who organised in the meeting in response to residents' concerns, said: "This is a very important message not just for Hendy but for everyone to look at the green and brown field sites around where they live and let the county know what they would or would not like to see there. "Although the county council has warm words on its website about us getting involved, hardly anyone knows about this and the May deadline is fast approaching.

"I will be asking the council's forward planning department if they could make the website form more user friendly and I will ask council bosses to be more proactive about alerting residents to the chance to give their views."