HMO plans for Pen y Bryn hotel and bar rejected

Plans to turn a bar and hotel near Wrexham town centre into a house in multiple occupation (HMO) have been rejected.

An application for the former Soul Suite and Albion Hotel on the two floors above in Pen y Bryn was submitted earlier this year.

As part of the plans it was proposed that the three floors were turned into an 11-bed HMO.

The proposals were submitted after the owners of the building said that despite the ground floor being advertised to let since 2017, they had received little interest.

However the application was refused by Lawrence Isted, the council’s chief officer of planning and regulatory via a delegated decision.

In his findings, Mr Isted said that the development would be contrary to planning policy.

He said: “By virtue of the lack of sufficient outdoor amenity space, secure cycle storage and accessible refuse / recycling storage, the proposed HMO would result in an overdevelopment of the site to the detriment of the future occupiers of the proposed dwelling and the visual amenities of the area.”

Mr Isted adds: “The council would look more favourably upon a less intensive scheme which retains the commercial use on the ground floor and creates quality residential apartments on the upper floors, more in keeping with the Pen y Bryn mixed use regeneration area.”