Appeal to turn former police station into nursery dismissed by planning inspectorate

An appeal to turn a former village police station into a nursery has been dismissed by the planning inspectorate.

Plans to convert the building on Chester Road in Gresford into a day nursery for a maximum of 39 children were submitted to the local authority in October 2020.

Gresford Police Station was closed due to being used less frequently by officers and costing North Wales Police £12,000 a year to maintain.

The property was later put on the market for almost £230,000 to generate funds to be reinvested into other buildings owned by the regional force.

However, the application to convert the building into a nursery was rejected by planning officers over concerns about the extra traffic it would generate and the impact on road safety.

Last year the BBC Local Democracy Service reported that an appeal was submitted on behalf of the new owner of the building after an agent representing her argued it would not put people’s safety at risk.

But the appeal has now been dismissed by the Welsh Government planning inspectorate, which described the proposals as “harmful to highway safety contrary to Wrexham Unitary Development Plan (UDP) Policy GDP1.”

N Jones, the inspector appointed by the Welsh Government, found that “whilst the evidence concerning the former and proposed uses does not allow for a robust comparison of parking demand, it is reasonable to expect that vehicular movements associated with the nature of the proposal would follow a different pattern to the former police station.”

As part of their findings the inspectorate concluded: “LPGN 16 states that changes of use will be judged on their own merits and that additional spaces may be required where the demand for parking arising from a new use is likely to be greater than that from the existing use, particularly where this is likely to cause highway problems in the locality.

“The appellant suggest that the traffic generated by the proposed use of the site would be comparable to the previous use as a police station.

“Whilst I acknowledge that the Council provides no comparable evidence, the appellant’s estimate is based only on a Google Streetview image showing five vehicles parked to the front of the building and an assertion that five staff may have been employed.

“No substantive evidence is provided to support the figures. Similarly, the Council’s evidence of parking demand from the proposal is based on a single visit to observe the car park at the appellant’s other nursery, rather than an objective analysis of trip generation, or which considers other site specific factors such as accessibility to public transport.

“Given the nature of the use and the age of the children, parents and carers would be likely to wish to park as close as possible to the facility.

“On the available evidence and having regard to the large number of children that would be cared for and associated staffing requirements, I find that it has not been demonstrated that the proposal would make adequate provision for parking.

“The proposal would therefore result in a risk of conflicts and congestion within the site itself as well as overspill parking in the vicinity.

“Indiscriminate parking on the cycle lanes would risk danger to their users and parking on the carriageway on Chester Road as well as on or near the junction with Annefield Park would risk obstruction to the free flow of traffic on Chester Road and its environs.

“I have taken into account the appellant’s suggested methods of controlling and reducing the length of stays.

“Their use however would be difficult to regulate or enforce. I have also taken into account the appellant’s suggestion that the transfer of staff from the nearby nursery facility would increase opportunities for sustainable travel in accordance with national planning policy, given the accessibility of the appeal site.

“I do not consider however that any benefit accruing would outweigh the harm I have identified in relation to the appeal proposal.

“I conclude that the proposal would be harmful to highway safety contrary to Wrexham Unitary Development Plan (UDP) Policy GDP1 which requires all new development to ensure safe and convenient pedestrian and vehicular access to and from development sites, both on site and in the nearby locality.”