'Vital we resist Redrow giant housing estate'

Cllr Becca Martin and Cllr Katie Wilkinson campaigning against the giant Redrow estate

Almost three hundred residents have signed a petition protesting at plans by Redrow to build 1500 homes on greenfield land between Wrexham and Bersham.

The plans, currently out to consultation, would mean the village of Bersham effectively joined with Wrexham and the loss of good agricultural land.

The petition, which was launched by local Offa Plaid Cymru councillor Katie Wilkinson, has had support from communities all around the Lower Berse Road site.

Cllr Wilkinson said: "We've been knocking doors in the area and residents are understandably concerned about the huge size of this development. When it was first mentioned as part of the emerging Local Development Plan, it was on the understanding that there would be significant improvements to the A483 Ruthin Road junction. That's now been abandoned but the housing scheme is going ahead. 

"The site will generate thousands of extra traffic movements each day - onto a road network that is already creaking. I fully support local residents' concerns about the impact it will have on the communities surrounding the site, including my own ward of Offa but also Brynyffynnon, Bersham and Rhostyllen."

The controversial scheme is one of two Key Strategic Sites outlined in Wrexham's Local Development Plan, which the Welsh Government insists must allocate land for 8,000 new houses in the borough, despite a static population in the county borough for the past seven years. 

Cllr Becca Martin, Plaid Cymru's Wrexham spokesperson, said: "The LDP would make it easier for developers to build on the best and most valuable agricultural land in the Wrexham area - specifically the two Key Strategic Sites on Ruthin Road and Cefn Road. Together, these two sites alone would mean 3,000 extra houses on either side of the town and a growing sense of urban sprawl. At a time when we need to be considering critical issues such as climate change, flooding and food security, it makes no sense to be losing large swathes of green fields for executive housing out of the reach of most local people. 

"Services such as health, roads, sewerage and schools are already at breaking point and large developers are only concerned with building homes rather than creating communities. It's vital that we resist Redrow's plans to build a 1500-home housing estate. What's needed is genuinely affordable housing for people on the council's waiting list - and that can be provided on brownfield sites.

"That's why we're asking people to support the campaign to resist Redrow and protect our environment - https://www.wrexhamplaid.cymru/redrow_petition".