Affordable housing narrowly approved in Wrexham

It was a nailbiter of a planning committee meeting in North Wales, with chair Cllr Michael Morris issuing the deciding vote to sign off 47 homes in Caego.

Housing association Adra was behind the proposals for five acres of agricultural land off Berse Road. Similar applications to develop the site had been rejected in 2016 and 2018. However, since, then the plot has earned a spot in the controversial Wrexham Local Development Plan and an allocation for 25 homes.

This, planning officers noted, is not a maximum.

Adra’s plans will construct 12 two-bed apartments, 19 two-bed houses, 14 three-bed ones, and two four-bed residences. Of the 47 homes, 23 will be for social rent while 24 will be for intermediate rent.

Local opposition to the scheme was strong, with 44 objections and the local members registering their disdain for the project. They expressed concerns over increased traffic, flooding, and sewage infrastructure. Once councillor also objected to the affordable designation, saying that affordable homes in his area are rarely actually affordable.

Another stated that if the project was approved it would give free license for any housebuilder to build on a site, whether it was suitable or not, provided they included the carrot of affordable housing.

At first, the Wrexham County Council committee looked to reject the application on Monday, with eight members voting to kibosh the application and eight in support of it. Cllr Morris’ tiebreaking vote ended the rejection discussion.

The county council then voted on the planning officer recommendation to approve the project. Once again, the votes were eight to eight, with Cllr Morris breaking the tie.

You can learn more about the project by searching application reference number P/2023/0221. The scheme was designed by Ainsley Gommon Architects.