Planning inspectors raise major concerns raised over key housing blueprint for Wrexham

Major concerns have been raised over a key housing blueprint for Wrexham after inspectors overseeing it demanded a new set of hearings.

Wrexham Council’s Local Development Plan (LDP) outlines areas where approximately 8,000 houses could be built in the county and was subject to a public examination during autumn.

Last month, it was announced extra hearings would be held in February after inspectors appointed by the Welsh Government wrote to the local authority to highlight several outstanding issues.

The contents of their letters were not made public at the time, but have now been published on the council’s website.

In the documents, they said they believed the housing requirement set out in the LDP was potentially “flawed” after questioning the justification for reducing the number of new homes in the original plan down from 11,715.

They also said there were fundamental issues with the selection of the three Gypsy and Traveller sites included.

Addressing the housing figures, they said: “Having considered all the evidence submitted to the examination to date we have serious concerns with regard to the soundness of the LDP.

“The combination of these factors led us to consider that the LDP’s housing requirement and distribution of allocations might be flawed.

“Of four options, that chosen in the preferred strategy (PS), following consultation, was based on a migration-led projection and had a level of growth of about 11,715 new homes, approximately 7,550 jobs and 53 hectares of employment land.

“In the deposit plan the housing requirement has been reduced to 8,525 dwellings with 4,200 new jobs and 45 hectares of employment land.

“Those are significant reductions; over a quarter of the PS housing requirement and 44 per cent fewer jobs than promoted in the PS.

“We are concerned that the stated reasons do not justify the substantial reduction in the amount of development proposed in the deposit LDP.”

One of the main concerns raised by residents during the hearings was regarding the selection of the three Gypsy and Traveller sites in Llay, Brymbo and Hanmer.

The land in Llay proved to be one of the most contentious choices as it forms part of Alyn Waters Country Park and is currently used by a charity to home rescue horses.

In their note to the council, the inspectors said there were significant problems with all of the locations chosen, which could hamper the LDP.

They said: “Whilst we accept that it may be possible to address some of the site-specific issues at planning application stage, the matters raised are of such importance as to raise question of delivery within the plan period.

“In our opinion, and as things stand, there is currently insufficient evidence to demonstrate that these matters can be satisfactorily resolved to enable the timely delivery of the sites.”

The council has been given until the end of this month to provide a statement in response to the issues raised.
The extra hearings will be held during the week starting 24 February.

In a statement released last month, a council spokesman said: “We have been made aware of matters raised by the inspectors in their post-hearing letter.

“The council will continue to cooperate fully with them to ensure that all the evidence and information required is provided within the timescales stated, so that the Local Development Plan can be taken forward to adoption.”

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