Welsh Ministers have decided to call in a planning application to develop a business park just north of Junction 33 of the M4 motorway.

In October 2006 an application was made to Cardiff Council by Westgate Park (Cardiff) Ltd for outline planning permission to develop an 'International Status Business Park' comprising 100,000 square metres of employment land; 26,000 square metres of hotel, complementary facilities, a regional transport interchange, car parking, landscaping, and access.

The application site encloses an area of 40.8 hectares (100 acres) of agricultural land and woodland to the north of Junction 33 of the M4 motorway, adjacent to the Cardiff West service station. It is approximately 13 kilometres North West of the Cardiff city centre.

On the 15 July 2009 the Council's Planning Committee resolved to grant planning permission. As the Council considered the development to be a significant departure from the development plan, the application was forwarded to the Welsh Ministers on 28 July 2009 in accordance with the provisions of the Town and Country Planning (Development Plans and Consultations) (Departures) Direction 1992. This Direction provides the Welsh Ministers with the opportunity to consider whether they should call in the application and determine it themselves.

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The Welsh Ministers have also received numerous requests to call in the application for their own determination.

The Welsh Assembly Government's policy is that, generally, applications should only be called in where they raise planning issues of more than local importance. In considering whether to call in an application it is not open to the Welsh Ministers to consider the planning merits of the proposed development.

This application has been called in because the Welsh Ministers concluded that the scale and location of the proposed development and its overall impact on the environment raise the possibility of substantive conflict with national policy on development in the open countryside, sustainable development and the siting of, and impact on, new retail and office developments; and, potentially, an effect beyond the immediate locality, in terms of its impact on national and local traffic networks and neighbouring local planning authorities' development plan strategies.

The Welsh Ministers also noted that these issues arise in a context where there is no up to date development plan for the local planning authority’s area and preparation of a local development plan is at a comparatively early stage. Moreover, in view of the interest shown in the application by neighbouring local authorities, they were satisfied that the application is causing controversy beyond the immediate locality.

The purpose of calling in the application is to ensure that the above issues, which appear to the Welsh Ministers to be of more than local importance, can be considered by an independent planning inspector who, after considering the application’s merits, will make recommendations to the Welsh Ministers in due course.

(CD/KMcA)