Issue - meetings

Demolish the old library and build three new intermediate affordable houses

Local Member: Councillor Kim Jones

Link to relevant background documents

DECISION: To defer in order to conduct a site visit

Demolition of former library and construction of three new intermediate affordable dwellings.

a)      The Senior Development Control Officer highlighted that this was a full application for the demolition of the former Llanberis library and the construction of three new 'intermediate' affordable dwellings in its place (two 2-bedroom semi-detached dwellings and one 3-bedroom detached dwelling). The library was closed in 2017 and the site, which was within the residential area of the Llanberis Local Service Centre as defined in the LDP, had been dormant since. The site was served by Capel Coch Road, which also served Dolbadarn primary school. Reference was made to the footbridge over Afon Coch river towards the rear of the site, which connected with Glanrafon Estate – over the past few years flood alleviation work had been completed on the riverbanks because of significant flooding in 2012.

This was a development by Cyngor Gwynedd as part of the 'Tŷ Gwynedd' scheme and the houses will be offered to buy or rent for an affordable price to local people.

Attention was drawn to the number of objections to the plan because parking issues already existed on Ffordd Capel Coch which caused ill-feeling amongst residents, and there was concern that the construction of three dwellings at this location would exacerbate the situation. In addition, there was concern regarding the hazard to street users, including children who attended the nearby school, due to the increase in traffic.

Despite the concerns, the Transportation Unit had no objection to the proposal in principle although they had noted that they would not support the creation of on-street parking spaces. The officer stated that there was a private parking space for each new property in the plans and that space would remain for three cars to park on the road in front of the development. It was added that until recently, the site had been a public library that attracted traffic itself.  Consequently, it was not considered that the development itself would exacerbate the on-street parking situation compared to what could be the case under the site's current lawful planning use. Similarly, it was not considered that the traffic caused by three dwellings would cause a greater risk to street users than the former library.

In the context of flooding concerns, a Flood Consequence Assessment (FCA) had been submitted with the application in response to initial observations from Natural Resources Wales (NRW). It was noted that the findings of the Flood Consequence Assessment and the modelling process that was followed confirmed that the development would comply with the requirements of the current TAN 15, specifically the criteria set by Appendix 1 of the TAN. In addition, the FCA proposed a series of alleviation measures to improve the resilience of the development to flooding. As a result, the proposal was considered acceptable based on the ability to manage flood risk to the occupiers of the proposed dwellings, and that it would not cause added risk in other places. It was therefore considered that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8