Apartment plans for former Caia Park community centre site approved

Apartment plans on the site of a former Caia Park community centre have been approved by councillors.

The centre, on Eaton Drive, has been vacant for several years.

However under the proposals submitted the building would be demolished to make way for 16 one and two bedroom apartments.

Concerns had been raised by councillor Ronnie Prince, who said that the proposed 16 apartments “are too many and it is a case of cramming them in.”

Speaking at Monday’s meeting Cllr Prince said: “I think it’s an overdevelopment of the site. Previously in Caia we’ve taken down three storey flats due to the issues of antisocial behaviour that’s developed in these sites.

“I believe that if this development goes ahead, it will not only potentially create antisocial behaviour in this area, but it would also be over dominance to the houses that are near it as well.

“I also have an issue with the access that they use in the car park. That car pack serves four council houses, it serves the deliveries to four different shops and it also serves the Caia housing offices. So the car park is very well used.

“I think it should have its own dedicated access off Eaton drive. I think that’d be far more acceptable.

“I do support that the development will end up there, and we would like to see a development there, but I believe you should develop on two storey less units, less dominance to the nearby houses and its own access.”

He recommended that the application is refused due to the overdevelopment of the site and the addition of a dedicated access point.

Concerns were also raised by Llay councillor Bryan Apsley about drainage on the site and whether expert advice was being ignored.

However this was rejected by planning officer David Williams who said that advice hadn’t been ignored and that two conditions covering drainage were in place.

Commenting on the scale of the proposed building, Mr Williams added: “There have been concerns about overdevelopment however it is consistent with similar sites that have been developed for this type of purpose elsewhere within the town.

“The orientation of the the building block has been changed to functional sets, which minimises the impact on properties on Eaton drive.

“I’ve noted from the report that there is seems to be an ongoing issue in terms of the rights of access across the site.

“Our Asset Management have expressed concerns about this but the applicant asserts of the vehicular access to the community centre has always been over this piece of land and he has the same rights of access to the site across the carpark as the previous owner. And it’s been detailed apparently within the land transfer.”

A majority of councillors voted in favour of approving the development, with just two committee members voting in favour of an amendment to reject the plans.