Plans for Up to 120 New Homes on Farmland in Llanrwst Must Prioritize Affordable Housing, Urges Local Councillor

Plans to build up to 120 new homes on farmland in Llanrwst need to include as many affordable homes as possible, says the town’s councillor.
Conwy is currently carrying out a consultation featuring a series of public information sessions about its new replacement Local Development plan (RLDP), which dictates what major developments can be built and where in the county.
The new Local Development Plan is not expected to be ready until late 2024 or early 2025 and includes five sites for significant development.
One of those is Penloyn in Llanrwst, a field on the left side of the A470, just as you enter the market town’s boundaries coming from Glan Conwy.
But Llanrwst councillor Aaron Wynne said it is important that as many of the homes as possible go to locals living in the Conwy Valley.
Cllr Wynne said he is one of many in the town who can’t afford their own home but said the council couldn’t negotiate with developers until the designated areas had been agreed and planning applications submitted for the five sites.
“The RLDP, all it does is designate land that can be used for housing developments,” he said.
“If the land would be included in the LDP, it would allow people to put in planning applications. It would be during that process that we’d be able to decide what’s needed in terms of development.
“As a local person from Llanrwst, we need affordable housing for people on local wages. I live in Llanrwst, and I can’t afford to buy my own house.
“We don’t need big houses in Llanrwst. We need houses for local people. But it is during that planning process that we will be able to make sure that those developments are correct for Llanrwst.”
He added: “Now I don’t know what is practical, but I would like to see as much of it if not all of it affordable for local people because that’s where the need is. I’m one of those young people who live in Llanrwst who can’t afford to buy a house, so it does need to be genuine, local affordability for these houses. That’s something people need to voice.
“We will always be pushing for as much affordable housing as possible, and developers will be pushing the other way. You need to make sure as much of that housing, if the developer is interested, that as much of those houses are affordable to local people in the Conwy Valley.”
Cllr Wynne said, though, he wasn’t as concerned about the loss of a green field as the town already has many. Cllr Wynne also pointed to continual flooding problems in the market town restricting what land could be built on.
“Because of the flooding issues in Llanrwst, we don’t have a lot of places where we can build,” he said.
“It (the field) is not an open space, so it’s not somewhere people can go. It’s a farming space. We are very fortunate to have green space in Llanrwst. But that’s part of the charm of the town.”
For more information about the RLDP and the workshops being held, visit: https://www.conwy.gov.uk/en/Spotlight/Press-Releases/We-want-to-hear-from-you.aspx

By Richard Evans – Local Democracy Reporter