Plans for Hope development back on council agenda after site visit delays

Plans for development in Hope will be discussed by councillors again after being previously deferred to allow for a site visit.

A full application for the part demolition of an existing home and a residential development comprising of seven detached homes along with associated roads and drainage works at Foxfield, Fagl Lane in Hope, will be put to Flintshire Council’s Planning Committee.

The committee previously discussed the plans on Wednesday, November 22, when it was decided that a site visit was needed before a decision could be made, so it was deferred.
The committee was, and still is, recommended to grant the application, which was submitted by Gower Homes Ltd.

The same application has also been considered on two previous occasions, once by the Planning Committee on 26 October 2022, and then by an appeal Inspector, who determined it on 1 August 2023, according to a report into the application.

Both of these decisions refused permission on the sole issue of a lack of certainty that the development could sufficiently mitigate the impact of the additional phosphates from the development, on the River Dee and Bala Lake Special Area of Conservation.

Hope Community Council has objected to the plans and local Councillor Gladys Healey (Lab) called the application into committee.

However, the report says: “The proposal represents an acceptable windfall development within the settlement boundary of a sustainable settlement. There are no unacceptable impacts upon local amenity, ecology, or as a result of highways or drainage issues, as in the previous consideration of this application. The phosphates issue, which was the only previous impediment to issuing a positive decision in relation to this scheme has now been overcome.”

Therefore the plans are recommended to be approved, subject to the suggested conditions and legal agreement outlined in the report.

The Planning Committee will discuss this at the next meeting on Wednesday, December 13.

By Emily Ash – Local Democracy Reporter (more here).