New school plans for Nine Acre field to be decided at straight yes / no planning meeting on Monday

Wrexham Council’s Planning Committee will meet on Monday to decide if a school will be built on the Nine Acre field, with the decision on the evening likely to be final, and would not be appealed.

Last month we noted the likelihood of such a meeting, and with the agendas now public it is confirmed the Nine Acre plans will be decided upon.

In the same article we detailed how the council told us, “Should ‘Wrexham County Borough Council’ submit a planning application which is subsequently refused then the Council cannot appeal this decision as stipulated in relevant Regulations” – a key detail in the now public documents states: “APPLICANT(S) NAME: WREXHAM COUNTY BOROUGH COUNCIL”.

Therefore the committee has the rare privilege of making a truly local yes or no decision at the meeting, knowing it will not be appealed, negating the common grasp for planning reasons if anyone is minded towards a refusal vote.

The development would result in St Mary’s Catholic Primary School relocating to the site from its current base in the town centre, however there has been opposition to the plan from people living in the Maesydre area over a claimed shortage of green space.

The proposed development includes provision for around 315 pupils, along with 45 nursery places.

Along with a new school, the proposals also include be two football pitches, a forest school, hard play area, staff car park, coach car park and a pupil drop off point.

Access to and from the site would be provided via Rhosnesni Lane.

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 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.”

The rest of the report to councillors appears unchanged from January, and confirms this in a bolded statement: “The committee report presented to Members on the 10th of January is set out in full below along with the recommendation, which remains unchanged.”

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.