“Crude blackmail” as Education Lead points to Gypsy and Traveller site for Nine Acre if school planning application fails

Wrexham Council’s Lead Member for Education Phil Wynn has published an unprecedented intervention via a 25 point list of reasons he believes a school should be built on the Nine Acre field.

Cllr Wynn has also had to cancel an invite to St Mary’s for councillors following a call with the Council’s Legal Officer and a firm email from the Chair of the Planning Committee.

The full 25 point list is below, with No 24. stating the field could be declared ‘surplus to requirements’ if planning is refused, and then “If we are expected to identify new sites for consideration for a WCBC Gypsy and Traveller site as part of possibly a LDP3 ( I appreciate the jury is out on that) Nine Acres could come into the mix as a potential site, with it having been declared surplus to Education’s needs.”

Point 24 also confirms the yes/no on the night decision for the planning committee, stating “Education Department has no right of appeal to the Planning Inspectorate”.

The list has raised eyebrows with a range of councillors,  with Plaid Cymru’s Acton and Maesydre councillor Becca Martin branding it ‘crude attempt to blackmail planning committee members’.

Cllr Martin has said,  “The plans to build a school on the Nine-Acre Field are emotive enough and have led to hundreds of individual objectors writing in. The lead member for education has been a very vocal advocate of planning application but his latest rant has poured petrol on the flames by including a highly inflammatory reference to gypsy sites.

“It was a crude attempt to blackmail planning committee members into approving the scheme by saying – ‘vote for the school or you could have a gypsy and traveller site’. It’s a threat that people will see through and he should be ashamed of himself.

“It’s not acceptable and Cllr Wynn should apologise for the remark. I trust the committee to take a balanced view of this proposal, to listen to the people and to come to a sound judgement.”

The full planning report before councillors gives a history of the point, noting the site was discounted in 2014 and 2017 when the site was assessed for its potential to be allocated as Gypsy and Traveller site – as it was “the nine acre playing field and is strategically important”

It adds, “There is also a Report of the Chief Officer Planning and Regulatory – 25 July 2022 shortfall of playing fields within this community. The loss of this facility to development is therefore considered unacceptable. Whilst noting that the assessment referred a shortage of playing fields, it is not clear that regard was had to the 2016 Audit. In any case, at the request of the LDP Inspectors, the site selection process for Gypsy and Traveller site was re-run in 2020. This site was discounted as being potentially available for a Gypsy and Traveller site on the grounds that it was being held for educational purposes.

The report contains the highlighting above, adding “The conclusions of those assessments does not automatically mean that any proposed development on the site will automatically be judged to be unacceptable and therefore do not bind the Council in their consideration of this application”.

Scrapped School Visit

Cllr Wynn appears to have upset some councillors by issuing an all-councillor invite to visit St Mary’s on Monday, the same afternoon the planning committee meeting will be held, “to tour the school site to gauge the challenges the school community­ face due to the condition of the buildings and the lack of a school playing field”.

Chair of the Planning Committee replied inside an hour late on Thursday night to “strongly advise all members of the planning committee not to take up the offer” noting committee members are “always advised not to undertake unaccompanied and unstructured site visits”.

Last night the invite was retracted by Cllr Wynn, who wrote to all councillors saying “I have taken a call this afternoon from our Chief Legal Officer advising the offer to accommodate a visit by elected members to the school on Monday is inappropriate”.

25 Point List

Cllr Wynn’s 25 point break down for reasons he supports the plans for the Nine Acre is copied in full below, having made it public to Wrexham.com and again circulating it to all councillors ahead of Monday’s planning meeting

In the cover email he also notes that Cllr Hugh Jones’ Environment Department appears to have assessed the costs of making the entire field a Public Open Space, but the department doesn’t have the cash to make that happen, “I appreciate the Nine Acre Campaign Group are seeking the entire field be given up as Public Open Space but our Environment Department are not in a financial position to facilitate their wishes and the Group nor Acton Community Council have been forthcoming as to how any initial or annual maintenance costs to deliver the POS would be funded.”

The full 25 point list:

1. The existing St Mary’s buildings are unsuitable for modernisation and the school yard is not big enough for the number of school pupils. The school site has no playing fields, so relies on shared use of the playing field in Bellevue Park, which can be accessed by dogs on and off leads, street drinkers and drug users.

2. We have a collective duty to deliver an ever improving educational experience for all of our 18,500 plus learners and that for me includes the 300 or so pupils at St Mary’s.

3. Both St Mary’s schools, located in the town-centre and Brymbo, lack their own dedicated playing field and are in need of modernisation, hence our desire to see both schools relocated to new sites which affords them their own attached playing field.

4. The Nine Acre school field has never been officially opened for public use, as is the case with all our schools who enjoy sole access to their own playing field.

5. If planning consent is granted on Monday, as per the planning officer’s recommendation then for the first time ever local residents will have access to a third of the field (area adjacent to Chester Rd). I hope weight will be given to the Welsh Government’s decision not to find the January 2022 planning report unsound.

6. The new POS will be laid out at the expense of the delivery of the new school.

7. I am comfortable with Acton Community Council taking ownership of the designated POS site, as long as they would be prepared to dedicate the POS for that purpose.

8. From my discussions with local youth football clubs there is an identified need for youth pitches in the Nine Acre locality.

9. I have this week given my support for Wrexham Schoolboys Football to have temporary access to the Nine Acre pitches. This reinforces point 8

10. The proposed school building forms less that 10% of the Nine Acre site.

11. I recognise on-street parking outside all of our schools is an irritation for nearby households, at the start and finish of the school day,. For this reason I have pushed officers to provide the maximum number of on-site staff and parent car-parking spaces. The parent parking spaces are wider than usual spaces, so as to encourage parents to use them.

12. St Mary’s pupils currently access school coaches which are parked up outside United Carpets on Pentre Felin. The new site avoids the need for pupils as young as four years of age having to leave the school site to access a coach, as coaches will utilise an on-site Nine Acre coach park.

13. If a local youth club was to operate from the Nine Acre POS then the school would permit them use of the school parent car-par outside of school hours.

14. The school is located in the middle of the site to maximise distancing from adjacent households.This is not the cheapest option but the most preferable I believe for adjacent householders should planning consent be granted.

15. The school’s playing fields are located next to those properties which abut the site, so as to minimise any impact on these householders.

16. The school site will be open for 195 days of the year.

17. The industrialised palisaded fencing will be replaced with green mesh fencing, which is less offensive to the eye and will provide residents with an unhindered view across the field.

18. The Catholic Church will purchase the foot-print of the building only, with ownership of the rest of the site retained by WCBC. As such we can ensure the school’s pupil intake number cannot be extended without our consent.

19. The Wrexham tax-payer is not responsible for the school build cost, as this is split 85% Welsh Government and 15% the Catholic Church. This cost split is the same as that for the Brymbo St Mary’s school, with the Anglican Church covering the 15% contribution less any s106 contribution secured to extend that school’s current pupil capacity.

20. Just as I am keen to see a third of the Nine Acre site brought into public use, I am in exploratory discussions with a number of elected members about transferring the ownership of under-utilised Education Department portfolio land to their Community Councils, on the basis they wish to ensure these sites are used as public open spaces in perpetuity. If further sites are identified then similar discussions will take place. I appreciate Community Councils may not wish to take up this possible offer but that will need to be tested as well as there being a Council appetite to increase the supply of POS.

21. The schools located in the four town-centre Community Council areas are as follows:

Acton – 1 Secondary, 5 Primary.
Caia – 1 Secondary, 3 Primary, 1 Early Years Centre
Offa- 2 Secondary, 1 Special, 4 Primary
Rhosddu – 3 Primary, 1 small PRU.

22. The Groves building and playing fields have recently been declared surplus to the needs of the Education Department, as feasibility studies have identified the conversion of the listed Groves building for a primary school or special school purpose would result in a compromised design which would cost well in excess of a modern design school building.

23. The Nine Acre campaign group have argued the Groves playing field is a more desirable site than the Nine Acre site for a newly built primary school.
This argument I would suggest is not straight-forward as there are covenants on the Groves listed building and the playing field which could be challenged by adjacent land-owners, as was the case back in 1990’s when the then school applied for planning consent for an all-weather pitch with flood-lights.
In my opinion it would be unwise to split the listed Groves building and its playing fields until such time that a final use for the listed building is identified and delivered.
I struggle to understand why the Campaign Group believe one playing field is acceptable for development ie the Groves whilst a playing field a few hundred metres up the road does not ie Nine Acre.

24. Should the Nine Acre planning application be refused then the Education Department has no right of appeal to the Planning Inspectorate. This would result in the Department possibly identifying an alternative education use for Nine Acre or declaring it surplus to requirement.
If we are expected to identify new sites for consideration for a WCBC Gypsy and Traveller site as part of possibly a LDP3 ( I appreciate the jury is out on that) Nine Acres could come into the mix as a potential site, with it having been declared surplus to Education’s needs.

25. If planning refusal is on the grounds of building on a green space then we would be seriously hampered by such a decision as it would set a precedent that any new school could not be built on their existing green playing-field, whilst the school building was used before it’s demolition.

Statement from Cllr Wynn

In addition to the above lengthy list, Cllr Wynn has also issued a statement detailing why he is in favour of building a school on the 9 Acre field, “As Lead Member for Education my focus is to ensure we deliver an ever improving educational experience for all of our 18,500 plus Wrexham learners.

“Our 21st century school capital programme is one component to improving our learners’ educational experience, which entails replacing end of life school buildings with fit for purpose modern schools. Back in 2017 elected members adopted our Strategic Outline Programme for the delivery of new school buildings which includes an amalgamated Borras Park CP Infants and Juniors, a new Welsh medium primary school in Borras, a replacement St Christopher’s Special school, removing mobile classrooms at Ysgol Hooson, a newly sited St Mary’s Primary school in Brymbo, along with the provision of a new site in the town-centre for St Mary’s Catholic Primary school.”

“Unfortunately the existing St Mary’s Catholic Primary school is on a site which relies on Bellevue Public Park as the school’s sports field. Apart from creating logistical issues for sports days the St Mary’s site without its own playing field makes it impossible to accommodate a new build school whilst the existing building is kept open, bearing in mind the limited size of the school yard.”

“As such we have chosen to test the principal of building a primary school on the Nine Acre site off Westminster Drive, as this is the only land in the town-centre in the ownership of the Education Department, which is free of covenants and other challenges such as a listed building.”

“Whilst I appreciate the neighbouring householders prefer the limited use of the Nine Acre site, this unfortunately is a luxury I cannot support. That said every effort has been made by education officers to ensure residents concerns are mitigated, such as the provision of adequate on-site parking for staff and parents, placing the school building in the centre of the field so maximising the distance from adjacent houses, providing a school playing field alongside the few houses that immediately join the site, opening up a third of the site for public use for the first time ever and not forgetting the replacement of the industrial looking perimeter fencing with green mesh fencing.”

“Talking with local youth football clubs there is a shortage of football pitches in the locality to serve both the Acton and Rhosddu communities, so my hope is the third of the site next to Chester Rd, which is being offered up as Public Open Space, can be laid out for their use.”

As we have previously reported the matter was due to be heard back in January however the process was paused as the Welsh Government considered if they should ‘call in’ the decision, something they rejected while noting that no weight should be attached to that move.

The report before councillors explicitly refers to that process, of which Welsh Government said at the time “In reaching this conclusion the planning merits of the planning application were not taken into account and the decision not to call in the application should not in any way be taken as a reflection on the planning merits of the development.”

Cllr Wynn’s statement does however point to that decision, adding “Whilst the members for the Acton and Maesydre Ward, along with a vocal Campaign Group, have campaigned for the refusal of the Nine Acre site for a much needed primary school, my hope is the members of the planning committee will give due regard to the judgement of the planning officer’s recommendation for approval, as well as the Welsh Government’s judgement not to rule in favour of a resident’s concern that Nine Acre is an unsuitable site for the proposed primary school.”

As we reported the meeting on Monday is unusual as it is a straight local yes or no, with no appeal possible – negating the common grasp for planning reasons if anyone is minded towards a refusal vote.

The committee meeting will be held at the Guildhall on Monday, 25th July at 4.00 pm – and will be live streamed online as well.