Housing development could be built on green barrier land in village

A housing development could be built in a village on the outskirts of Wrexham despite the proposed site being on green barrier land.

Officers at Wrexham Council have recommended that plans for up to five new homes off Afoneitha Road in Penycae should be approved.

Previous applications in the same location were refused in both 2004 and 2013 and the following appeals were dismissed.

However, the authority’s head of planning said the requirement for more than 8,500 houses to be built in the county as part of its Local Development Plan (LDP) should be taken into consideration.

The plan, which outlines a number of green barrier areas for development, was controversially voted through last week in the face of strong objections.

In a report, Lawrence Isted said: “It is clear that there is a considerable need to bring forward additional land for housing to in order to deliver the requirements identified in the LDP.

“It is also clear that at present there is a consistent undersupply of new housing being brought forward based on the rate of completions over the past five years.

“The LDP is unlikely to be adopted until sometime in 2019 and in the intervening period it is therefore necessary to ensure that a consistent supply of land available for housing continues to be brought forward where appropriate sites are subject to planning applications.

“Whilst resulting in an encroachment into the green barrier, the loss of openness would be at site level only.

“It would also not result in harm to the countryside surrounding the village.

“It is therefore my opinion that on balance the benefits of securing an albeit modest increase in the supply of land available for housing outweigh the relatively limited harm the development will have upon the green barrier and open countryside surrounding the village.”

The plans have been backed for approval subject to developers entering into a legal agreement with the council to secure the maintenance of a river which runs near the site.

The proposals will be considered by Wrexham Council’s planning committee on Monday 3rd December at 4pm. The meeting will also be webcast on the Wrexham Council website.

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