Issue - meetings

Cliff stabilisation works, demolition and reconstruction of a single House

Local Member: Councillor Gruffydd Williams

Link to relevant background documents

DECISION: To defer in order to conduct a site visit

Demolition of existing dwelling and construct a new dwelling in its place, and work to stabilise the cliffs

a)    The Senior Development Control Officer highlighted that this was a full application for the demolition of an existing dwelling and construction of a replacement dwelling, together with work to stabilise coastal cliffs. Externally, the new house would include a pitched roof finished in dark zinc and the finishes of the exterior walls would be a combination of timber boards on the upper floor and natural stone on the lower floors. He noted that the site and existing building were located at the foot of the cliffs of Nefyn Beach, and the cliffs were designated as the Clogwyni Pen Llŷn Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and was also the Porthdinllaen to Porth Pistyll Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). He added that the site was outside the current development boundary of Nefyn with access gained to the site along the beach as well as a public footpath that led down from the top of the cliff past the site and onwards to the beach below.

He explained that the existing site contained a house that dated back to the late 1960s/early 1970s and of a style that included flat roofs. Its appearance conveyed those of that era. The site and the wider area were within the Llŷn and Enlli Landscape of Outstanding Historic Interest designation, and outside a nearby flood zone (which only applied to the beach). He noted that elements of the proposal had been amended since the original submission because of comments received, which included the external finishes of the dwelling following a comment by the AONB Unit (although the site was not within the AONB, these were considered as general comments).

He added that originally, a part of the proposal involved diverting the existing public footpath that ran past the site and repositioning it to be further from the building. Following discussions and after receiving comments on the proposal from the Council's Rights of Way Unit, Nefyn Town Council and members of the public, it was decided that the proposal was too contentious and therefore the path would stay as it was.

The application was submitted to the Planning Committee by the Local Member for reasons of it being an over-development of the site, that it would destabilise the cliffs and have an adverse impact on the area.

In the context of relevant policies, reference was made to the requirements of policy PS 5 which stated that priority should be given to the effective use of land and infrastructure, prioritising the re-use of previously used land and buildings, wherever possible. In this case, a dwelling already existed, and the site was already developed, therefore the proposal satisfied the general requirements of policy PS 5 of the Anglesey and Gwynedd Joint Local Development Plan (JLDP). It was added that Policy TAI 13 of the LDP related specifically to replacement dwellings and set a series of criteria that must  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7