Agenda item

Proposed 6 holiday let apartments through the conversion and extension of main building and demolition of existing dwelling to rear of site and replacement with new accommodation blocks

LOCAL MEMBER: Councillor Dewi Roberts

Link to relevant background papers

DECISION: To refuse the application

Reasons:

1.    The proposal is unacceptable due to its scale, loss of a house from the housing stock, location of the site within a residential areas and there is an excess of this type of accommodation in the area where 42.29% of the housing stock are second homes.  The proposal is therefore considered to be contrary to criteria ii, iii, iv and v of policy TWR 2 of the Anglesey and Gwynedd Joint Local Development Plan.  Consequently, it is not considered that the proposal would create a high quality development in terms of design, setting or location and is therefore contrary to the requirements of policy TWR 2 of the Anglesey and Gwynedd Joint Local Development Plan and Supplementary Planning Guidance: Holiday Accommodation (July, 2011).

2.    The Local Planning Authority has not been convinced that measures such as bilingual signs and Welsh names would be sufficient mitigating measures in terms of improving and contributing positively to the Welsh language and Welsh culture in an area that is already under pressure in terms of language skills together with second homes / holiday units. Based on the information received, it is considered that the proposal is therefore contrary to point 3 of policy PS 1 of the LDP as it is likely to cause harm to the community's character and language balance in a way that cannot be avoided or satisfactorily mitigated.

3.    The proposal would not add to or enhance the character and appearance of the site in terms of its setting, appearance, scale, height and mass, and it would create an obtrusive and dominating feature in the local landscape that would be visible from public spaces and that would not respect the context of the site.  Therefore, it is considered that the proposal is contrary to criteria 1 and 2 of Policy PCYFF 3 of the Anglesey and Gwynedd Joint Local Development Plan.

4.    The proposal would cause significant detrimental harm to the occupants of nearby housing together with holiday unit users on the grounds of more activities, disturbance, noise, over-looking and loss of privacy and therefore the proposal is contrary to criterion 7 of Policy PCYFF 2 of the Anglesey and Gwynedd Joint Local Development Plan.

5.    Parking provision on the site is insufficient to serve the proposal and is therefore likely that the proposal will lead to on-street parking in a village where parking provision is under pressure, especially during the holiday season, affecting road safety and it is therefore contrary to the requirements of Policy TRA 2 and TRA 4 of the LDP.   

Demolish existing building and construct 6 new dwellings

Attention was drawn to the late observations form.

a)    The Planning Manager elaborated on the background of the application, and noted that this was an application to create six self-contained holiday flats.  Three self-contained holiday flats would be created by converting and extending the existing hotel/restaurant and the other three units would be created by demolishing the small dwelling at the back of the site and disposing a static caravan and erecting a new two-storey and one-storey building in their place.  It was explained that the current use of the site included a five bedroom hotel and restaurant in a traditional and substantially sized building with a small dwelling and caravan for hotel staff use at the back of the site.

It was reported that the proposal was unacceptable due to its scale, loss of a house from the housing stock, location of the site within a residential area and there was an excess of this type of accommodation in the area where 42.29% of the housing stock were second homes. It was considered that the proposal was contrary to criteria ii, iii, iv and v of policy TWR 2 of the LDP (as it would not create high quality accommodation in terms of design, setting or location) and also Supplementary Planning Guidance: Holiday Accommodation (July, 2011).

In the context of linguistic matters, there was no requirement to submit a Welsh Language Statement under Policy PS1 of the LDP. However, in accordance with the content of the Supplementary Planning Guidance:  Maintaining and Creating Distinctive and Sustainable Communities, applicants were encouraged to present a record of how consideration had been given to the Welsh language when drawing up the planning application.

The Language Unit's summary opinion stated that they disagreed with the conclusion of the submitted language statement and stated that a negative impact was more likely as it was a development for holiday units rather than contributing to the permanent housing stock in an area where the Welsh language was vulnerable. Observations had been received stating that a local company would receive the language contract, there would be Welsh names on the units, that bilingual signs would be erected and that holiday units could lead to people supporting local businesses while visiting the area.  However, the Language Unit was of the opinion that the statement submitted did not show any understanding of the local area's language situation. As there was a fundamental objection to the proposal, officers had not raised these concerns with the applicant's agent as the receipt of an amended Language Statement in itself would not overcome the other policy concerns highlighted in the assessment.

In the context of visual amenities, attention was drawn to criteria requirements and it was considered that the proposal did not add to or enhance the character and appearance of the site, the building or the area in terms of setting, appearance, scale, height and mass.  It was considered that it would create an obtrusive and dominating feature at the rear of the site. When considering the general and residential amenities, it was noted that the proposal would cause significant detrimental harm to the occupants of nearby housing together with holiday unit users on the grounds of more activities, disturbance, noise, over-looking and loss of privacy. The proposal was therefore contrary to criterion 7 of Policy PCYFF 2 of the LDP.

It was highlighted that the Transportation Unit had also noted that parking provision on the site was insufficient to serve the proposal and would lead to on-street parking in a village where parking provision was already under pressure, especially during the holiday season.

b)    It was proposed and seconded to refuse the application.

RESOLVED: To refuse the application

Reasons:

1.             The proposal is unacceptable due to its scale, loss of a house from the housing stock, location of the site within a residential area and there is an excess of this type of accommodation in the area where 42.29% of the housing stock are second homes. It is therefore considered that the proposal is contrary to criteria ii, iii, iv and v of policy TWR 2 of the Anglesey and Gwynedd Joint Local Development Plan.  Consequently, it is not considered that the proposal would create a high quality development in terms of design, setting or location and is therefore contrary to the requirements of policy TWR 2 of the Anglesey and Gwynedd Joint Local Development Plan and Supplementary Planning Guidance: Holiday Accommodation (July, 2011).

2.         The Local Planning Authority has not been convinced that measures such as bilingual signs and Welsh names would be sufficient mitigating measures in terms of improving and contributing positively to the Welsh language and Welsh culture in an area that is already under pressure in terms of language skills together with second homes / holiday units. Based on the information received, it is considered that the proposal is therefore contrary to point 3 of policy PS 1 of the LDP as it is likely to cause harm to the community's character and language balance in a way that cannot be avoided or satisfactorily mitigated.

3.         The proposal would not add to or enhance the character and appearance of the site in terms of its setting, appearance, scale, height and mass, and it would create an obtrusive and dominating feature for nearby properties and, therefore, it does not respect the context of the site. Therefore, it is considered that the proposal is contrary to criteria 1 and 2 of Policy PCYFF 3 of the Anglesey and Gwynedd Joint Local Development Plan.

4.         The proposal would cause significant detrimental harm to the occupants of nearby housing together with holiday unit users on the grounds of more activities, disturbance, noise, over-looking and loss of privacy and therefore the proposal is contrary to criterion 7 of Policy PCYFF 2 of the Anglesey and Gwynedd Joint Local Development Plan.

5.         Parking provision on the site is insufficient to serve the proposal and it is therefore likely that the proposal will lead to on-street parking in a village where parking provision is under pressure, especially during the holiday season, affecting road safety and it is therefore contrary to the requirements of Policy TRA 2 and TRA 4 of the LDP.