77 affordable house development at flood site

Plans for a 77 affordable housing scheme in Ruthin have been submitted to Denbighshire Council.
But concerns have been raised that the houses will be built on land that was the site of flooding that devastated dozens of nearby houses.
The application from Clwyd Alyn Housing Ltd will see a mix of 77 homes built at the Glasdir site in the town.
In 2012 a housing estate at Glasdir was hit by flood waters halting works on the private development by Taylor Wimpey.
Earlier this year the firm announced plans to re-start work on finishing the estate after a seven year delay.
And this week Clwyd Alyn submitted its plans for its own 77 home development at the Glasdir site.
The scheme will see affordable homes built at the site with funding from the Welsh Government.
The homes will be made up of six four-bed houses 12 one-bed, apartments, one four-bed house, 26 two-bed houses, 28 three-bed houses and four two-bed bungalows.
A report to planners said the plans would help the county meet its housing targets.
It said: “The need for affordable housing in the county, including Ruthin and its hinterland is by every measure acute and overwhelming. The proposal delivers against national and corporate housing priorities and accords with the strategy of the Local Development Plan through development of a site allocated for housing in the adopted Denbighshire Local Development Plan. ”
The council’s own figures show Denbighshire needs 334 social rented properties to be developed annually if the low end social rented figures were to be used 658 social rented properties to be developed each year
if the high end social rented figures were to be used.
The same report, that forms part of the application, notes that some of the site on the north west side lies within a flood zone.
Despite this the applicant has stated that hydraulic modelling has shown that the risk of flooding is low.

By Shane Brennan – Local Democracy Reporter