Agenda item

10.1 VAR/2023/70 - Coleg Menai,Ffordd y Coleg, Llangefni

         VAR/2023/70

10.1 VAR/2023/70 – Application under Section 73A for the variation of condition (16) (Details of the Play Area) and (44) (Details of the Play Area) of planning permission reference VAR/2022/44 (Hybrid application for engineering centre, car park, children’s play area and outline application for residential dwellings, hotel, food and beverage and car park) so as to allow play area information to be submitted and work to be completed on the play area before the occupation of the 61^st dwelling at Coleg Menai, Ffordd y Coleg, Llangefni

The application was reported to the Planning and Orders Committee as the original planning application was a departure application subject to the Committee’s approval.

The Planning Development Manager reported that the application is to amend the wording of condition (16) and condition (44) (Details of Play Area) on planning application VAR/2022/44 and provide a financial contribution towards open space. The request to amend the wording of the conditions has been made by Clwyd Alyn to regularise the current breach of conditions (16) and (44) of planning permission VAR/2022/44 as it is unable to comply with them because of land ownership. In 2017 Coleg Menai was granted hybrid planning permission for the creation of an engineering centre and outline planning for residential development of 153 units and a hotel. A reserved matters permission was granted in 2021 for the site which is the subject of the current application for 60 residential units. In the meantime Coleg Menai sold sites 2 and 3 to Clwyd Alyn for the development of 60 affordable units. However, the children’s play area is on site 1 on land currently owned by Coleg Menai and the 23 residential units planned for this parcel of land have not yet commenced. The children’s play area should have been completed prior to the occupation of the first dwelling on the site which include the affordable residential units on sites 2 and 3 now owned by Clwyd Alyn. Some of the residential dwellings developed by Clwyd Alyn on sites 2 and 3 are already occupied in breach of these conditions. As the children’s play area is on land owned by Coleg Menai, Clwyd Alyn has requested that the wording of the conditions is amended to allow the play area to be completed prior to the occupation of the 61^st dwelling thereby allowing Clwyd Alyn to occupy all 60 affordable dwellings on sites 2 and 3 without breaching conditions (16) and (44). Clwyd Alyn has confirmed that they will provide a financial contribution of £18,164.13 towards the provision of a children’s play area within Llangefni town the contribution having been calculated based on the need resulting from the 60 affordable dwellings developed by Clwyd Alyn on sites 2 and 3. The children’s play area remains a part of the wider scheme on site 1 which is owned by Coleg Menai with the financial contribution applying to the 60 Clwyd Alyn units only. Coleg Menai will be expected to provide information about the other sites in due course.

As the land for the children’s play area is not owned by Clwyd Alyn, it is considered that the application to amend the wording of the conditions as described it the report is both reasonable and acceptable. The financial contribution committed to by Clwyd Alyn will enable the Council to provide open space provision within the community of Llangefni. The recommendation is therefore to approve the application.

Councillor Geraint Bebb proposed that the application be approved in accordance with the Officer’s recommendation. The proposal was seconded by Councillor Neville Evans.

In response to a question by Councillor Dafydd Roberts about where children would be expected to play until such time as the 61st unit is completed which could take several years, the Planning Development Manager advised that the £18k financial contribution which Clwyd Alyn has committed to make will help improve current facilities within Llangefni thereby mitigating the impact of the 60 units which it is developing. Once the 61^st dwelling which is on land in Coleg Menai’s ownership is developed, Coleg Menai will be required to provide details of a children’s play area for the remainder of the site. The Planning Development Manager confirmed that there are two play areas close to the development site which could benefit from the funding by Clwyd Alyn to improve the facilities.

The Planning Development Manager further explained that the original application was a complex hybrid application involving multiple sites. Coleg Menai has sold one such site to Clwyd Alyn for the development of 60 affordable units which Clwyd Alyn is developing independently from the wider scheme and permission. Had Coleg Menai commenced the development of the 23 residential units on site 1 which are on land in its ownership they could have provided the children’s play area which forms part of the site. As the land is not owned by Clwyd Alyn it was not possible for them to provide a children’s play area prior to the development and occupancy of the affordable units they are developing on sites 2 and 3, hence the application to amend the wording of the conditions.

It was resolved to approve the application in accordance with the Officer’s recommendation and report subject to the planning conditions as set out therein.