A NEW sewage pumping station will be built in Llanelli if a 205 home development is given the go ahead.

Charles Church Wales wants to build a luxury residential estate on the Machynys peninsula, but the scheme has attracted controversy amid concerns over the effect the town's sewers could be having on water quality in the estuary.

When the application was due for a decision by council planning chiefs earlier this month, a last-gasp directive from the Assembly put a spanner in the works, after it received a flurry of requests to call in the planning application.

Now it is due to be discussed today — with both council and Assembly officials hopeful a decision on whether to call-in the application has been made by then. The council agenda includes fresh opposition to the proposals.

One member of the public wrote to the committee saying: "The effluent will be discharged to Delta Lakes pumping station, which has a maximum capacity of 13 litres per second.

"Given that there are about 400 dwellings built or planned in the area, the anticipated foul water flows from these could be expected to be in excess of 20 litres per second.

"It is clear the Delta Lakes pumping station will be severely overloaded. This sewage will eventually discharge into the protected Burry Inlet."

In response, the applicant's agent said: "It is proposed to construct a new foul water pumping station next to the existing Delta Lakes pumping station."

He also dismissed fears of sewage finding its way into the Burry Inlet.

"The statement is incorrect and misleading. The objectors are clearly not aware of the agreements that have been made with Countryside Council Wales, Welsh Water and Carmarthenshire Council in respect of water quality issues in the Loughor Estuary and Bury Inlet," he said.

Planning officers have again recommended approval of the plans.