Plans to demolish a Greenfield pub and replace it with 12 affordable homes submitted

Plans to build ‘affordable’ homes on a site where a pub has stood for over 150 years have been submitted to Flintshire County Council.

The proposed development would see The Packet House Pub in Greenfield knocked down and 12 new houses in three separate blocks built just off the A548 Mostyn Road.

According to documents submitted to the local authority, historical mapping indicates that the site has been utilised as a public house since pre-1871.

The public house buildings were extended, demolished and rebuilt several times throughout this time period, however since 1994 the site has remained relatively unchanged.

Image: Planning application

A pre-application community consultation was undertaken by the applicant, Liverpool based Shape Consulting Engineers, earlier this year.

A report on the consultation states: “There is an affordable housing need across Flintshire, and the proposed development will make a contribution towards affordable requirements, delivering 12 no. affordable homes within the settlement boundary of Greenfield on a brownfield site.”

In total, 11 written responses from members of the local community were received as well as a written response from Holywell Town Council.

Concerns raised include The Packet House being an “important location for community groups, and is used to hold meetings and events.”

And the pub is seen as a “valuable resource for social networking and gatherings of friends and family, and for some residents is there only opportunity for social interaction.”

Another concern raised is the “loss of the only public house left in the village would be damaging to the villagers, with no local community centre in the village anymore.”

It was also claimed the proposals “represent over-development of the site” but that has been addressed by developers who said the 12 homes “will now be a lower-density scheme that was first proposed.”

Image: Planning application

Developers say the pub doesn’t have a viable future in its current state and point to the issues around running a ‘wet led’ pub with little scope to expand into the more lucrative food market.

The viability report, prepared by LJD Innovation notes: “The wet-led pub has no opportunity to reposition itself as a food led operation.”

“At present, there are not the on-site facilities required, in terms of a commercial catering kitchen, to operate effectively as a food operation.”

“We understand that the property has traditionally traded as a wet-led business and therefore it would take a leap of faith from an operator to reposition the offering of the property to incorporate a viable food service.”

“Any operator would need to budget circa £50K for the full installation of a catering kitchen and we also add that it would be difficult to make a business of this type successful due to the limited number of covers that can be provided at the property with no realistic prospect of this being increased.”

If approved, the new development will see three separate two-story quadruple terrace blocks built.

Developers say the design will reflect existing houses and be “viewed as a gateway building, establishing a sense of arrival into Greenfield travelling east along the A548”

The proposals “aim to reflect the materials, composition and proportions of the surrounding context, featuring pitched roofs and a combination of render and light coloured brick to break up the building.”

The houses will also “look to reflect the narrow proportions of the neighbouring terrace properties.”

A Design and Access statement submitted with the plans states: “the proposed development will provide high quality housing that has been designed to fit cohesively with the scale and character of the local area of Holywell, whilst improving the overall street scene.”

A decision on the application is expected at the end of September.