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Two-minute meeting opens door for 600-home appeal

Alec Doyle
Local Democracy Reporting Service
Google An aerial view of part of Wrexham. The left shows housing estates, with several large brown fields in the centre of the picture. This is where the development relates to. It is south of a large round. There are green fields to the north of the road, to the right of the brown fields and southGoogle
The proposal relates to some of the brown fields pictured south of the Holt Road roundabout

A meeting to decide the fate of plans for hundreds of homes was cut short after just two-and-a-half minutes when 10 committee members failed to show up.

Wrexham council's planning committee met on Monday to discuss whether it intended to oppose an appeal for a rejected proposal for 600 homes south of Holt Road.

The absences meant not enough members were present to legally debate the matter, creating the possibility the plans could go to appeal without councillors' objections on record.

Committee chairman Mike Morris said it was "highly unusual" for so many members to be absent as they normally took their responsibilities seriously.

The Conservative councillor warned it could open the door to a successful appeal by the developers, Barratt Homes and Bloor Homes.

The original refusal, in 2020, was followed by an appeal lodged to the Planning Inspectorate, which is yet to be resolved.

The original application was one of those at the heart of Wrexham's legal battle over its Local Development Plan (LDP) and the proposed plot was part of wider plans for a 1,680-home "super-village" in the area.

Morris said the land was included in the LDP in April 2024 and deemed suitable for development, but the High Court later ruled the LDP was no longer adopted.

A deadline was then set by the Planning Inspectorate (now Pedw) of 30 September to hear the Holt Road appeal.

The planning committee will need to meet to formally decide whether it intends to oppose the development or not before the appeal to avoid it becoming a straight contest between residents who object to the scheme and the developers.

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