North Wales Traveller site rejected by planning officers again

Alec Doyle – Local Democracy Reporter

A Travellers site in north Wales has been rejected by planning officers for a second time.

The four-pitch site in in Rhostyllen – which borders the A483 at the Croesfoel Interchange – was originally turned down in May.

It included the construction of two permanent brick-built day rooms.

At the time Wrexham County Borough Council’s planning officers cited poor visibility for vehicle access, the potential impact on the A483 a few feet away, the lack of a biodiversity assessment, the site being unsuitable for residential accommodation due to the noise and pollution from the trunk road and the impact of increased phosphorous release from human waste on the River Dee.

Applicant Tom Berry resubmitted the partly retrospective plans but once more they have now been refused, having failed to satisfy Natural Resources Wales, Welsh Government or the authority’s own Public Protection Department.

Mr Berry sought to use previous decisions on a family site in Hawarden, Flintshire last year and in Bridgend in 2024 as precedents for refusal being overturned by Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW) but to no avail.

This site is intended to provide a home for him and his family – including eight children.

The reasons for refusal remain unchanged except for on phosphorous, where Mr Berry made the argument through his agents that while a connection to the public foul sewer was possible, their preferred method would be to install a nutrient neutral packet sewage treatment plant that would clean water before expelling it onto a permeable gravel surface and into the water table.

According to the officers there was no evidence provided to support the decision not to connect the site to the main sewer.

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