Henblas Square and Rhosrobin: Affordable housing in planning spotlight

Two critical planning applications were decided by Wrexham planning committee tonight.

The first was whether to permit Mandale Ltd, which has planning permission to turn the Henblas Square building into 53 first-floor flats, to renege on its commitment to pay about £300,000 towards affordable housing in the borough.

Instead the company, which only received planning in November, had come back to say it couldn't make enough profit out of the scheme and was proposing to offer the council just £28,000 instead.

This was based on a new set of figures that were significantly different from those in the original application.

Cllr Marc Jones (Plaid Cymru), who had originally called for the application to be deferred for more information, told the committee that he felt misled by the developers: "We were told that 20% was an acceptable profit in the initial planning application. We are now told that 8% is acceptable on a new set of figures. I have to say that I've lost faith in the developers and we should not be bounced by threats that the planning inspector will back the developer into accepting a development without a contribution to affordable housing."

Cllr Jones, who represents the ward, made it clear he would not support the revised application to drop all but £28,000 of the affordable housing contribution. He added: "There are many young families in my ward and across the borough that are current living in overcrowded conditions due to a lack of affordable housing. The money we should be getting from the Henblas Square development could go towards helping build and buy more affordable housing for those people."

The vote was carried 9-7.

The committee also voted marginally against granting permission for Wales and West Housing Association to build 23 affordable houses on agricultural land between Rhosrobin and Gwersyllt. There was a long debate where the positives of getting more affordable housing were weighed against the dangers of urban sprawl and building new housing on the last remaining green field between the two communities.

On balance, Plaid Cymru councillors Marc Jones and Gwenfair Jones felt that protecting the green wedge and having a consistent approach in not supporting building estates on green field sites outweighed the need locally for affordable housing. If we'd accepted this development, large-scale housing developments on greenfield sites could have been given the green light.