Lane End bags Llandudno consent

Plans for 77 homes close to the town’s railway station have overcome the misgivings of planning officers to secure approval.

The proposals from Lane End Development Construction include 21 houses and 56 apartments, a reduction from an earlier iteration including 89 homes. The scheme is proposed as 100% affordable.

The plans for the 2.47-acre site raised concerns from planning officers on four grounds: the loss of allocated employment space, lack of open space, flood risk and potentially adverse impact on the Llandudno conservation area.

However, the reduced plans already had conditional “minded to approve” status with Conwy Council from March 2021, full approval essentially dependent on whether the scheme might be called in by the Welsh Government.

In December, the WG withdrew its “holding direction,” allowing the application to be determined locally.

At the junction of Builder Street and Oxford Road, the site currently houses a car wash and a former goods yard. The north-eastern part of the site falls within the conservation area, and faes listed buildings on the corner of Oxford Street and Vaughan Street. Llandudno station forms the north-western boundary.

Designed in-house, the housing splits out as 10 two-bedroom homes, 10 three-bed and one four-bedroom. Thirty of the flats are to be two-bedroom, and 26 one-bedroom.

Conwy is not in a strong position in housing, being able to demonstrate only a 2.5 year supply. Perhaps mindful of this, officers noted in the report prepared for committee that should approval be given, conditions be attached for offsite sports provision.

A further condition suggested was that mechanisms be attached to ensure delivery of the commercial development on the adjacent plot, at the furthest point from Oxford Road, where Lane End has a separate application pending for five light industrial units totalling 7,000 sq ft.

Other than the car wash fronting Oxford Road, the site is disused. Credit: planning documents