Local councillor’s disappointment as developers win town centre flats appeal

A local councillors has expressed his disappointment after developers behind plans to create 53 apartments above a row of empty shops in town successfully won an appeal against a decision to cancel approval.

Planning committee members gave the go ahead to the Henblas Square scheme last year on the condition that the Mandale Group paid around £300,000 towards the cost of affordable housing elsewhere.

Permission was then withdrawn in April when the company asked to reduce the sum to just under £29,000 amid claims the original amount would lead to it making a loss.

Planning inspector Kay Sheffield overturned the decision by Wrexham Council’s planning committee last week after concluding that members acted unreasonably.

Cllr Marc Jones, who represents the area the shops are in, was one of those who opposed the firm’s bid to lessen its contribution, accusing representatives of ‘misleading’ them.

The Plaid Cymru politician said he had been left disappointed by the inspector’s findings, but now wanted to see the flats filled to regenerate the retail district.

He said: “The initial application was approved on the basis that it would provide affordable homes.

“The developer then moved the goalposts and said it needed to change the affordable homes contribution to ensure a 15 per cent profit, which is deemed to be at the lower end of housing viability.

“When those figures were challenged they came up with a completely different set of figures and said an eight per cent profit was acceptable.

“Ultimately the Planning Inspectorate has sided with the developer, despite the council bending over backwards in terms of parking to ensure the development went ahead.

“I hope we can now move forward and get the flats inhabited to bring life into the town centre.”

Henblas Square has been abandoned by several major retailers in recent years and the flats were seen as an opportunity to revitalise the area.

The development faced an uncertain future when permission was withdrawn with work already well underway.

However, the Mandale Group has now revealed it intends to finish the scheme within the next six weeks.

A spokesman said the company had already received a large amount of interest in the properties and had also successfully let out shops at ground floor level.

He said: “Everybody from Mandale is over the moon about this outcome. We’ve spent millions on the development, which the council stopped.

“We’re now able to complete it and sell the apartments, which have been almost finished for a while.

“We can now get on and hopefully fill our shops up and get the area thriving like it should be.”

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