Around 150 residents attended a meeting at Lampeter’s Victoria Hall on Thursday night to indicate their concerns about what is believed to be the largest residential housing planning application ever submitted in the town.

It is being claimed that the outline application for 95 houses and a new road at Maesyderi could lead to a 10 per cent growth in the size of Lampeter.

Residents now have until 28 February to submit their views after Ceredigion County Council agreed to extend the deadline.

However, town councillor Dinah Mulholland claimed that plans for the development had been submitted to the local authority solely in English.

“There might be a case to write to the Welsh Language Commissioner challenging that,” she said.

“I have pointed this out to the county council but as of yet have heard nothing back.

“We felt we needed to organise this meeting because there’s so little time.

“We need to deliver letters to every doorstep in Lampeter and form a cohesive, campaign committee.”

The outline planning application – for a residential development of up to 95 units and associated works, with strategic access points off Bryn Steffan and Maesyderi – has been lodged by US-based David Evans, his cousin Dai Charles Evans, and his wife.

Now living in California, David Evans, a former Lampeter rugby player, is the son of the late Handel Evans who ran Lampeter’s Mile End Café and managed the town branch of the Principality Building Society.

A well-known builder and entrepreneur, Dai Charles Evans, who lives in Silian, is a former chairman of Lampeter RFC.

Lampeter deputy-mayor Cllr Rob Phillips, who chaired the meeting, confirmed the town council would be considering the scheme this week.

He added that in the pre-application consultation they had raised concerns over housing density, access, a lack of privacy to existing homes and potential flooding and water run-off.

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