COMMUNITY leaders have voiced their anger over the scrapping of a vital £3 million link road scheme which they claim has left Brymbo as the “forgotten village”.

A councillor has demanded an urgent meeting with Wrexham planning chiefs to vent the area’s frustration.

The moves come after the planning committee decided on Monday to ignore its own officers’ advice and turn down two schemes which would have covered the cost of a spine road linking Brymbo with Tanyfron.

And a residents’ leader has warned that without the new road 500 households will remain completely cut off from services.

In 2006 Wrexham’s planning committee approved a scheme by Brymbo Developments Ltd (BDL) to build about 500 homes on the site of the former steelworks.

The company said it would use cash from the development to finance the spine road, but the homes plan never went ahead.

Earlier this week BDL re-submitted virtually the same scheme along with an associated blueprint for an 18,000 sq ft supermarket and six smaller shops close by.

Proceeds from both of these schemes, claimed the company, would foot the bill for the spine road.

But despite planning officers recommending that both schemes should be approved, the committee rejected them at the instigation of Caia Park Plaid Cymru councillors Marc Jones and Carrie Harper who doubted whether the road would go ahead and said the housing scheme was over-development.

Brymbo Tory Cllr Paul Rogers said: “The decision to refuse a planning application which would have brought millions of pounds of investment to Brymbo is astonishing.

“Community councillors, local residents and businesses have told me that they are angry at the decision.

“Many people feel the steelworks site is being forgotten and are disappointed that an opportunity has been missed.

“I will be meeting with council officers and stressing how frustrated the community is.

“We cannot wait another 20 years before there is progress.”

Emma Brady, Brymbo Community Association chairman, said: “We are shocked and dismayed by the decision at the planning committee.

“All the parties involved agree that this road is essential to our community for access and amenities.

“We do not have shops, a doctor’s surgery, a post office, a school or even a postbox within walking distance of our estates.

“Those of us who purchased houses on these estates were sold them with reassurance that there were plans by the developers and the council to build a spine road and local amenities within the next couple of years.

“What appals me most is the fact that two Plaid councillors lobbied and voted against these plans when they do not represent, nor indeed know the needs of this community.”