Secret meeting about proposed new waste transfer station at Llandudno Junction site

Councillors have held a “behind-closed-doors” meeting about a proposed waste transfer station on land next to a retail development.

Conwy county council’s finance and resources scrutiny committee was discussing the Brickworks site in Llandudno Junction at its meeting on Monday, with press and public excluded from the debate.

The scrutiny committee discussed the plans in November and the minutes revealed at that time councillors deferred approving the location for two to three months.

The land is next to Junction Leisure Park and Conwy Business Centre and the council’s strategic director of economy and place, Jane Richardson, claimed it was the only viable site in the county for a waste transfer station.

The area had previously been earmarked for a £40m retail development.

In the scrutiny committee’s November minutes it showed councillors queried why other sites were not included in a confidential report about the proposals.

Ms Richardson told them “a significant amount of research had been carried out and the only suitable site within the county was the Brickworks site”.

Head of neighbourhood services Andrew Wilkinson outlined why other sites had been deemed unsuitable and revealed why they couldn’t use the Gofer Household Recycling Centre in Abergele.

He said the “cost of locating the waste transfer station at the Gofer site would be prohibitive and the site was on a flood plain”.

Waste transfer stations typically bring in municipal waste and sift it to remove inappropriate or hazardous items before it’s compacted and sent off to its final destination in larger lorries, to reduce the cost of transportation.

Councillors voted to defer the decision on approving the site and asked for a  visit to look at the proposed location.

In addition it agreed all tenancies should be brought to an end and the council should “grant short-term tenancies whilst seeking redevelopment opportunities when appropriate.”

The site was going to see a retail development until May 2018, when Conygar Investment Company PLC pulled out of the scheme because it was “unable to deliver” the scheme “as planned” due to the economic climate at the time.

Conygar Investment Company PLC  also signed up Conwy county council to an ill-fated 35-year lease for 60,000 sq/ft of industrial units on Mochdre Commerce Park, which have so far cost around £1m and remain unused.

Originally leased to house the county council’s HGV fleet, serious structural issues with the floor meant it has never utilised for its original purpose.

Welsh Government took that site on as a temporary morgue during the Covid pandemic and it apparently remains on standby in case it is still needed.

By Jez Hemming – Local Democracy Reporter