Councillor says more affordable houses and less footballers’ mansions needed in Rossett

More affordable houses and less footballers’ mansions are needed in Rossett is the plea from deputy leader of Wrexham Council, and local Councillor Hugh Jones.

Cllr Jones was speaking in support of plans to convert and demolish a number of barns at Broad Oak Farm in his ward and turn them into either five or 13 new homes, and said the future viability of the community in Rossett depends on the number of affordable homes being increased.

The proposals were recommended for refusal by planning officers over concerns that the barns were unsuitable for conversion.

However, the Conservative councillor said they would address a shortfall in low-cost housing in the area.

He said: “This site is an absolute eyesore in the local community, it’s been like this for the last 15 years at least, if not more.
“We urgently need housing of this level and at the price bracket that it’s likely to be brought onto the market at.

“For years now we’ve taken sites with affordable housing on them and knocked those affordable houses down and we’ve provided £700,000 to £800,000 footballers’ mansions.

“In principle the village needs to have a proper balance of housing in order to make the community viable.

“At the very least I think the committee, if they’re not minded to approve it, should at least go and look at it.”

Developer Shaun Trowbridge said the plans would provide ‘much-needed’ affordable two or three bedroom houses in Rossett, adding that the current farm buildings showed signs of neglect and disrepair.

This was countered by Wrexham Council’s head of environment and planning, Lawrence Isted, who said the issue was not about the architectural merit of the barns, but reservations over the amount of conversion required.

He said: “As the local member said, we are keen to encourage conversion, but in an appropriate manner so that you don’t have a situation where there used to be some barns in once corner of a site then it looks almost like a suburban housing estate.”

Mr Isted added that there were also problems regarding the road layout and flood risk to the properties.

He was supported by committee chair Mike Morris who said he felt Mr Trowbridge was taking the ‘easy option’ by demolishing some of the existing buildings.

Cllr Morris said: “It’s the oldest thing in the book really in terms of saying the site is an eyesore, let’s do something with it.
“We hear that all too often, but it’s not necessarily the way to go in terms of compliance with our guidelines and policy.”

Councillors voted by a majority to carry out a site visit in order to better understand the issues raised, and perhaps go autograph hunting from footballers.

By Liam Randall – BBC Local Democracy Reporter (more here on the LDR scheme).