Questions raised over £1.5M historic building flat conversion in Welsh town that no one has lived in yet

Dale Spridgeon, Local democracy reporter

A Gothic style Grade II listed building, converted into flats at a cost of £1.5 million, has lain empty six months after the completion of the redevelopment.

Plas Alltran in Holyhead was upgraded to provide four affordable social homes for care leavers but councillors have questioned why the flats have not been filled, ata

Questions over why a £1.5M historic building flats conversion in Holyhead has remained empty were raised at an Anglesey County Council corporate scrutiny committee on Wednesday.

Located on the corner between Turkey Shore Road and Llanfawr Road, the work at Plas Alltran was completed in September, 2025.

The 130 year old building had previously been considered in the top 10 of Victorian buildings most at risk, after it became vacant in the 1970s and fell victim to arsonists and vandals.

But in 2023, hopes arose for a new future, when an application for listed building consent, as part of an ongoing scheme to convert the building into four social housing flats together with external and internal works was granted.

Scrutiny committee chairman, cllr Jeff Evans, said he was now being asked by the public what was being done to bring the building back into use.

He said it was renovated to “a wonderful standard” but described how now the empty building had seen a raft of issues including water ingress leaving “carpets soaked”.

During a discussion of the council’s housing service score-card performance, Cllr Jeff Evans said there had been “remarkable achievements” over the past 12 months to the service overall.

He said: “It appears better than ever, I want to congratulate the housing department and contractors for the manner in which they have turned them around.

“But I have one particular concern. I’m not sure whether this is the appropriate meeting to bring this up, but because of the amount of people making contact and comments in the media, I hope someone could at least direct me to an answer.

“Plas Alltran at Holyhead has had £1.5m spent on it, a previous historic building, was renovated to a wonderful standard, people are generally happy with that.

“There are four one bedroom homes designed as single and two person households, affordable housing for care leavers.

“It was completed and opened in September, 2025, but the property has remained empty ever since.

“I, and others, are now receiving emails over the deterioration of that property through water damage, expensive grouting between the stones coming away, wooden windows starting to deteriorate, water coming through windows and the sills, carpets being soaked.

“Can somebody just tell me, so I can explain to the public, what we are doing now to bring a £1.5m renovation back into use, so we create the homes and we create rent, and to make it a better, more improved place”.

Thanking him for his “positive comments” over the housing service’s scorecard performance, Cllr Carwyn Jones said Plas Alltran was “a really important project”.

“Yes, there are some technical problems that have affected us. We are very proud of the project, we want to see it fully utilised.”

Council chief executive Dylan Williams “accepted fully it was a relevant and important question”.

He said: “I would therefore out of respect, ask the head of housing to give you a very short answer this afternoon, and give you a full answer outside of the meeting, further discussions can take place, as we are discussing the performance and scorecard of the council, rather than specific project.”

Cllr Evans “appreciated his words”, adding: “I’m concerned we have four households there which we are not filling.”

The head of housing Ned Michaels said Plas Alltran had been of ” great concern”.

“There has been an agreement to bring this property up to the standards and at the end of every contract there is a 12 months defect liability period that exists.

“Currently, we are discussing with the contractor and we are expecting the contractor to start work on site.

“But because this is a listed building, before we can do any further adaptations on the building we need consent from CADW.

“I understand the work will be starting within the next few weeks.”

Plas Alltran was originally built as a surgery and home for Dr William Fox Russell and his family. A blue plaque commemorates his soldier sons who were decorated for bravery.

The building was originally commissioned by philanthropist Jane Henrietta Adeane (OBE), a niece of Hon WO Stanley of Penrhos, in 1890-1891.

It has had a variety of uses over the years, including as rented housing, classrooms for a nearby girls’ training institute, district nurse accommodation and a boarding house.