Flintshire approves holiday park project
The former Maes Mynan sand and gravel quarry in Afonwen is to be developed into a holiday park, following approval for a change of use at Flintshire County Council’s February planning meeting.
The park will house 63 static caravans, 70 pitches for touring caravans and 47 luxury cabins, making 180 spaces in total. Hawarden-based landscape architect The Ark Company has designed the scheme.
Applicant PHB (NW) said “the design embraces a sustainable, enhancing, interconnecting and sympathetic layout that takes advantage of the landscape, existing ecosystems, ecology and tree and vegetation buffers that offer organic natural screening through the whole site.” A site visit was held for the planning committee earlier this week, and a condition attacahed over safety around the ponds on the site.
PHB has been engaged in pre-application talks with Flintshire for 28 months, leading to an ecological management plan to ensure the site’s long-term health – although a brownfield site, is sits within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
PHB has pledged not to introduce touring caravans to the site until excavation works are complete at the adjacent working quarry site, where quarrying is to take place until 2023.
In the design & access statement submitted as part of the application, it put a “conservative” estimate of £1m on the project’s financial benefit to the area, using methodology from Visit Wales and the British Holiday & Home Parks Association.
Addressing the planning meeting, PHB’s Peter Barlow said: “The local communities cannot be supported by local spending alone, and the tourist pound is needed. This is a local business employing local people, making a contribution to local services”
The site lies north of the A451 west of Afonwen, less than 4km from the main A55 road. It is bisected by an unclassified road that will support the zoning of the site into three distinct areas. Where possible, the network of tracks and roads dating from the site’s use as a quarry will be used for the internal road layout, providing parking close to holidaymakers’ respective units.
