Former council HQ could be turned into dental practice and business hub

Richard Evans, Local Democracy Reporter

Councillors will next week consider plans to transform part of its former HQ into a mixed-use hub featuring a new dental practice.

Conwy County Council’s planning committee will discuss the proposals for the Grade II listed building on Bangor Road, Conwy, at a meeting at the authority’s Coed Pella HQ on Wednesday 13 May.

The application, submitted by Mr Pritchard of Glamorgan-based Ideas Forum, seeks permission to change part of the former council offices into a mixed-use development comprising offices and a games hub for companies specialising in gaming, a café, and a dental practice.

Planning officers are recommending councillors are “minded to grant” conditional planning permission, with no objection from Conwy Town Council.

The application has been referred to the planning committee because the development is on council-owned land.

The proposals would see the ground floor of the west wing converted from offices into a dental practice, with the existing reception and adjacent offices transformed into a “collaboration café”.

Works also include installing solar panels on the roof, adding four rooflights, replacing two windows with ventilation grilles, constructing a canopy on the ground floor, and building a bin store.

The site lies within the Creuddyn and Conwy Historic Landscape and the setting of the King Edward in Gwynedd World Heritage Site.

A separate listed building planning application has also been submitted.

Conwy County Council, who moved to its new Coed Pella HQ in Colwyn Bay in 2018, agreed to lease Bodlondeb to Ideas Forum last year, who then transformed the building into a business centre as a platform for entrepreneurs.