Since the application to build 49 dwellings on Bodafon Fields, Nant-y-Gamar Road, Craig-y-Don, was first registered in June 2021, Janet Finch-Saunders, Member of the Welsh Parliament for Aberconwy, has been working with the community to scrutinise the application.
The application would see housing built on land which forms part of a Registered Historic Landscape, and is situated right next to Ysgol Gogarth and Llys Gogarth residential facility.
Janet has now submitted a third letter objecting to the development.
Commenting on her campaign with constituents to oppose the development, Janet said:
“It is frustrating that Anwyl have made this application. With one hand they wish to build houses on Bodafon fields, yet with the other they are not delivering homes in West Shore where the iconic Gogarth Abbey Hotel used to stand. With this in mind, the development would make a mockery of the planning system in Wales if it had the go ahead.
“I have provided numerous examples of planning policy areas where I believe the application is in breach, such as the mix of market housing types; the need to protect and, where appropriate, enhance cultural and heritage assets; possible impact on archaeological interests; shortage of parking spaces; no provision of electric vehicle charging points; the potential impact on Ysgol Gogarth and Llys Gogarth; and access to Ysgol Bodafon.
“It seems that the Local Authority, if they approve the development, are willing for children to walk and cycle to Ysgol Bodafon along a narrow rural lane which is not capable of being improved to meet modern standards. Would you be happy for your children to walk or cycle to school along a narrow road which has no pavement?
“Local residents and I have been highlighting concerns about the potential impact on Ysgol Gogarth from the outset, and now we have it in writing in the equality impact assessment completed by Red Shiny Apple Ltd that there is considered to be substantial impact upon disabled children presented by the planning proposal, and that a number of areas have been analysed and considered to breach the legal threshold of the Equality Act 2010 as having a substantial impact upon disabled children.
“As I have said before, the Planning Committee should stand firm with the residents and democratically elected representatives of Aberconwy, from Town Council to Welsh Parliament, and refuse permission for this development.
“It is the youngest and most vulnerable in society who it would negatively affect the most.
“I implore the Planning Committee to do the right thing and reject this planning application”.