Permission for storage facility refused over flooding concerns

Richard Evans, local democracy reporter

A Local authority’s planning committee refused a classic car restoration business retrospective permission for a storage facility over flooding concerns.

Mr M Williams applied to Conwy’s planning department, seeking permission to store and work on classic cars, specialising in Land Rovers, at Jacksonville, Towyn Way West.

He also asked for permission for a side extension, including storage containers, and for an area for vehicle storage.

Debated

The matter was debated at a planning committee meeting at Conwy’s Bodlondeb HQ this week.

Councillors were generally supportive of the application, hearing that Towyn Town Council was also backing the business, which had been operating at the site since 2016 ‘without complaint’.

But the council received two objection letters, citing the loss of agricultural land whilst raising other concerns, including drainage issues.

The site was described as an ‘L’ shaped piece of land in the open countryside encircled by the boundary of Towyn to the north, east, and west.

Cllr Andrew Wood was supportive of the application and proposed councillors backed the proposals against officers’ advice.

“We need to encourage it. It is very hard to start a business now days and be successful. I wish them all the luck,” he said.

But as well as advising that the application should be rejected as it’s in open countryside, planning officers had concerns about the lack of a flood risk assessment, prompting Cllr Wood to retract his proposal.

Risk assessment

Planning officer Paula Jones said the business needed to have a flood risk assessment before advising councillors a new planning application would need to be submitted as the process can take some time.

“The application has been in a while, and I think you should consider the application on its current merits, and if the application is refused, then there will be an option for the applicant to resubmit with the appropriate documentation,” she said.

Cllr Chris Cater proposed councillors refused the application in line with officers’ recommendation, this was seconded by Cllr Alan Hunter, and the application was refused.