Developers ask for more time to transform former Pepper’s nightclub site in Wrexham

DEVELOPERS have asked for more time to create a restaurant and flats on land where a popular town centre nightclub once stood.
An application to demolish the old Peppers club in Bridge Street, Wrexham was originally approved back in 2014.
The building was knocked down the following year, but plans to build an eatery in its place with ten flats above it have yet to move forward.
Permission for the scheme was due to lapse last month and Adeel Ansari, who is behind the proposals, is seeking to extend it for a further five years.
The move has been backed for approval by a senior officer from Wrexham Council with the site currently lying vacant.
However, a community leader has raised objections because of traffic and parking concerns.
In a written response to the plans, Offa councillor Alun Jenkins said: “Traffic flows along the Bridge Street and Pen y Bryn route in and out of the town centre have increased considerably since the original plans were approved in 2014.
“The inadequate provisions for the commercial ground floor unit will only add to the significant existing problems and dangers along this busy road.
“The submitted existing drawings still show the existence of the night club, though this building has long since been demolished, and the and the present use is clearly as a parking and storage area which possibly needs its own planning approval.
“It is quite clear that the development has not been commenced within the five year timescale, the submitted documents are incomplete, show considerable changes from the originally approved plans, and the proposal would add considerably to traffic problems in the locality, and cause a considerable hazard to pedestrians.
“In the circumstances, I would be reluctant to see the current approval being extended.”
In a report, the council revealed the application to extend permission was submitted just one day before it was due to lapse on December 11, 2019.
Chief planning officer Lawrence Isted has recommended the authority’s planning committee should approve the extension.
It comes after he dismissed the suggestion that it would add to traffic problems and claimed there was a risk the site would remain derelict.
But he said Mr Ansari would need to make a separate application if he wanted to amend the original plans.
In a report, he said: “The local member has suggested that traffic along Bridge Street has increased considerably since 2014, however I have not been provided with any substantive evidence to demonstrate that this is the case or how any changes in traffic flows would render the proposals unacceptable in planning terms.
“I note that highways have made no recommendations therefore I can only conclude that they do not consider there to have been any changes in local highway conditions that present a cause for concern.
“Given that this is the first time the applicant has sought to renew the planning permission there has not been a persistent failure to begin the development that would contribute towards uncertainty about the future pattern of development in the area.
“Indeed, given that there is no extant planning permission for any alternative development for the site nor do I have any applications before me for alternative proposals, refusal of this application would inhibit the potential redevelopment of the site which in itself would create uncertainty.”
The proposals will be discussed at a meeting at Wrexham’s Guildhall on Monday .

By Liam Randall – Local Democracy Reporter