Plans to turn Wrexham bar and hotel into HMO resubmitted despite previous refusal

PLANS to turn a bar and hotel in Wrexham into a house in multiple occupation (HMO) have been resubmitted despite previously being refused.
An application was first entered to convert a building on Pen y Bryn which was home to Soul Suite and the Albion Hotel back in July.
The proposals to create 11 bedsits on the edge of the town centre were thrown out by Wrexham Council last month because of the lack of facilities outlined for tenants.
Officers indicated they would be prepared to consider a revised scheme to keep the ground floor open for commercial use.
However, the renewed application again states that all three floors would be used for residential purposes.
In giving his reasons for refusing the original plans, chief planning officer Lawrence Isted said: “By virtue of the lack of sufficient outdoor amenity space, secure cycle storage and accessible refuse storage, the proposed HMO would result in an overdevelopment of the site to the detriment of the future occupiers of the proposed dwelling and the visual amenities of the area.
“The council would look more favourably upon a less intensive scheme which retains the commercial use on the ground floor and creates quality residential apartments on the upper floors, more in keeping with the Pen y Bryn mixed used regeneration area.”
In the first application, the developers said the ground floor had been advertised to let since 2017, but with little interest.
Although they acknowledged there was a shortfall of parking spaces at the site, they added it would not cause an issue because of its proximity to public transport and car parks in the town centre.
The latest proposals will be considered by the council at a future date.

By Liam Randall – Local Democracy Reporter