Wrexham housing plan: Council rejects call to add 3,000 homes

Councils are required to draw up a local development plan to reflect expected housing and business needs

Wrexham housing bosses have questioned a call by Welsh Government planning inspectors to add more than 3,000 extra homes to their housing blueprint.

Inspectors claim the council's local development plan (LDP) to build 8,500 new houses between 2013 and 2028 is "flawed" and not ambitious enough.

Planning officers claim the extra homes would have a severe impact on local services and doubt they could be built.

Inspectors have also queried the locations chosen for traveller sites.

Last week, Housing Minister Julie James backed the council's figures after Plaid Cymru assembly member Llyr Gruffydd raised fears of "urban sprawl" if the inspectors' call for 11,715 homes was met.

Wrexham planning officers have now set out their response to issues raised over the LDP, warning of "a significant misalignment between aspiration and delivery".

'Fundamental issues'

"The level of growth proposed would have severe adverse consequences for the plan, for sustainable development and for the people of the county borough," the council said in a statement.

"In terms of deliverability, it is difficult to see how the development industry can build significantly higher numbers of housing than prior to the recession."

More than 4,000 of the required homes have already been built.

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The inspectors also said they had "fundamental issues" with the selection of three traveller sites, in Llay, Brymbo and Hanmer.

The land in Llay proved to be one of the most contentious choices in public consultation as it forms part of Alyn Waters Country Park and is subject to a restrictive covenant.

But the council has stood by the three locations and warned the lack of a valid plan was leaving the area open to speculative housing developments.

A series of additional hearings into the LDP are due to begin later this month, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.