Plans to knock down a former school in Swansea and replace it with houses have been been turned down.
Council planning officers and the Coal Authority found fault with the proposal for the Gowerton primary, despite the applicant amending it a number of times.
Swansea-based CDL Properties Ltd submitted a planning application last March and then amended it after inaccuracies were picked up by the planning department. A further amendment was then required to address another error, according to a planning officer report. Then it emerged that the wrong ownership certificate had been submitted.
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A further amended version was submitted, along with supporting documents, but planning officers said the changes proposed were considered significant. It meant a new planning application, which was re-advertised in November, was needed.
The Coal Authority said CDL Properties had eventually submitted coal mining information but, according to the regulator, it didn't assess the potential risks posed by past mining activity. This was one of six grounds for refusal by the planning department. Others included highway concerns, a lack of so-called green infrastructure, overlooking, and the absence of any affordable housing provision.
"The proposal is for seven detached dwellings and based on that proposal at least one property should be provided as an affordable home," said the planning officer report. The school, off Mount Street, closed in 2016, with pupils and staff moving to a new primary at the Elba playing fields, off Fford Beck.
Some residents objected to the redevelopment proposal for the old school, but there was support for it too because the site has become overgrown. One person said in an email to the planning department that there had been no upkeep of the school grounds.
"We have had large branches falling onto our drive and garden," said the email. "The trees have continued to grow and blocked most of our light into our home."
Another resident, who is a former pupil at the school, said it would be sad to see it go but that it had been empty for years. "We could be waiting a while if this is rejected, or we could end up with another grossly overdeveloped mess if someone else builds it out," they said.
One of the objectors, meanwhile, was concerned about surface water drainage, especially at the bottom of Mount Street. CDL Properties Ltd can appeal the refusal decision.
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