Penrhyn Homes plan for 133 homes in Meliden rejected for second time

Denbighshire officers had asked members to reconsider the decision made in September to refuse permission for 133 properties at Mindale Farm.

It was the second time for the proposal by Penrhyn Homes to be rejected, the original decision in 2017 having been upheld by planning inspector Kay Sheffield on appeal.

Officers recommended that the latest application be approved because the two reasons for refusal had been overcome. The developers now proposed a new access road to the site off the A547 Rhuddlan – Prestatyn road and consultants engaged by the council were satisfied that possible drainage problems had been resolved.

At Wednesday's planning committee meeting officers said there were no longer valid grounds for refusal, especially as the site was allocated for housing in the Local Development Plan.

Penrhyn Homes had confirmed that if the latest scheme were refused they would go to appeal and seek costs of about £150,000, and the authority would also incur costs on consultants.

Local resident Bob Paterson, who has led the local opposition to the development, said that costs should not be a consideration but if they were then it was equally relevant that householders in Ffordd Tynewydd would lose an estimated total of £1.2m off the value of their properties if the new road was built behind their houses.

Monitoring officer Gary Williams said that while members did not have to slavishly followed the officers’ advice they had to give good planning grounds for rejecting the advice.

“The issue of costs is not being held to anyone’s head but it only comes into consideration in the absence of any good planning reasons,” he said.

By nine votes to 1 the committee adhered to its original decision on the same grounds as before, and then also turned down the separate application for the access road which would be outside the village’s development boundary.