Overview

• The planning committee refused retrospective permission for Stephen Price’s front-garden drive and issued an order to reinstate it as a garden.
• Councillors voted 8–4 with two abstentions, and the chair expressed sympathy but said planning rules must be applied.
• Planning officers cited extensive excavation, loss of amenity and the risk of setting a precedent along Heol Ucha as reasons for refusal under Policy SP6.
• Price says he has spent about £5,000 on the drive and estimates a further £11,000–£13,000 would be needed to restore the garden, which he cannot afford.
• He intends to appeal, noting his wife’s serious health conditions, persistent parking pressures near their Hengoed home, and a dropped-kerb he paid for around 20 years ago.