Office building in Swansea can't be turned into a house even though it's never flooded

Plans to convert an office building in a low-lying area of Swansea into a shared house have been turned down on flood risk grounds despite the developer saying it’s never flooded in living memory. Council planning officers refused the application to create a six-bedroom house of multiple occupation at the Bond Street property in Sandfields because it’s in a risk area with the highest probability of flooding from rivers and the sea. Officers said residential accommodation constituted “highly vulnerable” development in such locations, were only justified in rare circumstances, and that where they were justified they should not include any ground floor living. The planning officer decision said the proposal, which included two kitchens and a lounge, would, however, provide adequate living conditions for residents in terms of space. Never miss a Swansea story by signing up to our newsletter here . Applicant Jason Irvine appealed the decision. An appeal statement on his behalf agreed the three-storey property was in an area with the highest probability of flooding from the sea and rivers. This means there’s a greater than a 1-in-200 chance of flooding including the effects of climate change. The statement said the proposal was to convert an existing property which was surrounded by houses rather than allocating land for new housing. It said tides were predictable and storms “carefully monitored”, allowing residents to be alerted in case they needed to evacuate. It added: “The appeal site has never flooded in living memory and all electrical sockets etc will be raised in order to mitigate any potential flooding.” One of the six bedrooms was planned on the ground floor. A Welsh Government-appointed planning inspector has now upheld the council’s decision, saying “the absence of flooding in living memory” wasn’t persuasive evidence that the risk was acceptable. The inspector’s decision report said: “Assertions regarding the predictability of tides, resident awareness, or informal management arrangements cannot substitute for the structured technical appraisal required by national policy.” It added that no flood consequence assessment or relevant technical evidence had been submitted to support the application. Earlier this month separate plans for affordable housing in Mumbles , some 50 metres from the new £26.5 million seawall and promenade, were turned down partly on flood risk grounds by the council.