A DECISION over plans to build homes on the 'eyesore' site of a former garden centre has moved a step closer.

Plans submitted to Flintshire Council in 2016 requested outline permission for a residential development consisting of 14 homes on the site of the former Spectrum Home and Garden Centre in Wrexham Road, Cefn-y-Bedd.

The council's planning committee gave conditional approval for the proposals in July last year, but just a few months later the plans were called in by the Welsh Government and an appeal with the Planning Inspectorate began.

A spokesman for the Planning Inspectorate told the Leader that an inspector visited the site last week.

The inspector's report must be sent to the Planning Directorate of Welsh Government by April 17, after which the final decision should be known within 12 weeks.

According to a design and access statement submitted with the plans, the proposed site of the development is currently disused following the closure of the garden centre.

In the document Dafydd John Edwards, senior architectural technician on behalf of Blueprint Architectural Services Ltd, explains: "It is our client’s intention to construct the proposed dwellings to be sympathetic to the surrounding area.

"This would mean using traditional materials to match the immediate locality.

"Development of this parcel of land within the community will vastly improve on the current characteristics of the site, improving on natural surveillance for the area and removing a dilapidated building which is an eyesore for passers-by.

"The layout is intended to provide occupiers of the dwellings a tranquil and peaceful environment, with the proposed dwellings set into the site and away from the main road.

"The provision of a residential development on the site will enhance the current characteristics

of the locality and enhance the highways safety of the area, reducing on traffic movements to

and from the site."