Boost for campaigners opposing building of 500-chalet holiday village on nature reserve

Campaigners who are trying to save a nature reserve from being turned into a holiday village have sent Anglesey Council planners a solicitor’s letter stating planning permission for the project is no longer valid.

Land and Lakes, a company based near Windermere in Cumbria, secured planning permission from Anglesey County Council in 2012 to build up to 500 holiday chalets in Penrhos, Holyhead.

The coastal nature reserve was listed an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) back in 1967. It’s also a conservation area and parts of it are a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Parts of the ancient woodland date back to the 1700s and it is full of a variety of flora, fauna and wildlife.

Red squirrels, bats, badgers, foxes and insects are amongst the many native species who live there.

The development threatens 27 acres of native woodland.

Speaking on behalf of the Save Penrhos Coastal Park campaign, local woman Hilary Paterson-Jones said.

“There’s a planning meeting on Wednesday with three applications from Land & Lakes. They’ve only just come on the table and we – as members of the public – are supposed to be given time for objections and to make observations.”

When campaigners learned last week of Wednesday’s planning meeting, they immediately set up a new crowdfunding appeal on their social media.

“In less than 24 hours we got well over £2,000,” said Mrs Paterson-Jones explaining that the money will go towards their legal costs.

Planning

Campaigners have shared their solicitor’s letter to the council with Nation.Cymru.

Summarising the lengthy letter, Mrs Patterson-Jones said: “What we’re saying is that the Isle of Anglesey County Council planning officer is continuously telling everybody that Land & Lakes has made a material start.

That means that planning permission now is in perpetuity and that Land & Lakes is given time to raise the money. We know that they’re looking for funding of over £105 million to build. With the whole country in recession, it means that Land & Lakes can wait as long as possible – 30 years if they want.”

Their solicitor however, disagrees explains Mrs Paterson-Jones: “Our solicitor has scrutinised those plans and says they have not made a material start. This is a massive application and you can’t say that throwing some material and stones on a pathway is a material start for – in Land & Lakes’ own words ‘a world class leisure village’. And then the planning officer has ticked a box to say they’ve made a material start.”

Wylfa B

Campaigners – as well as some local councillors – have long argued that a new and revised planning application needs to be submitted, and scrutinised.

This is because so much has changed since Land &Lakes was first granted planning permission in 2012.

Back then, a second nuclear power station – Wylfa B – was on the cards.

Land & Lakes promised that the development would include much needed housing for its construction workers.

In response to the solicitors letter, an Isle of Anglesey County Council spokesperson said: “Following receipt of legal correspondence regarding the Land & Lakes planning applications yesterday (Monday, 30th January), we have decided to recommend that these applications are deferred to the next Planning & Orders Committee meeting in March.

“This will provide us with sufficient time to consider the contents of this letter and to respond accordingly.”