DEVELOPERS and the council have disputed claims by residents living near a proposed large housing estate that they are ignoring rights of access on a private road.
The planning application by developers to build 365 homes on land at Home Farm in Llay was granted on appeal last year.
Wrexham Council has also given the green light for temporary access to be granted to the site from Old Meadow Court, which lies just off Gresford Road.
Old Meadow Court is a private road, containing seven converted barns and residents say planning officers have ignored the advice of their own highways department in allowing Anwyl/Bellway Homes to have access through the road to set up a site on the land, with work due to start later this year.
John O’Keefe, who has lived on Old Meadow Court for more than 10 years, said the council only seemed to acknowledge the road is private when it suited.
He said none of the residents had been approached by either the council or the developers over the plan to use the road for access purposes, albeit on a temporary basis.
He said: “They haven’t said a word to us, not one word.
“I’m a pensioner as are two of my neighbours and they’ve told us nothing at all, we don’t even know when they’re planning to start the work. It could be tomorrow for all we know.
“I have the deeds to the land and they quite clearly show it’s ours.”
Residents are in the process of seeking legal advice and are hoping to have a firm of solicitors look over the title deeds to the land as soon as possible.
Peter Douthwaite, senior development control engineer in the Wrexham Council highways department,
in a memo sent to planning officer Matthew Phillips, said: “They are proposing the use of Old Meadow Court as a temporary access for site set up – this is a private drive so they will need to establish rights of access over it presumably?
“Would they be better providing works compound off the Straight Mile where it is not disturbing local residents?”
Dennis Owen, who lives nearby on Gresford Road, said construction vehicles using the road were likely to create additional problems such as potholes, which residents of Old Meadow Court are already responsible for fixing themselves.
He said: “The council has told me in the past the land is adopted, but I know it isn’t, because the bin wagon won’t come down here, it will only stop at the top of the road.
“The residents even have to fix potholes on the road and you can only imagine what they’ll be like when big trucks and wagons are coming up and down here on a regular basis.”
A spokesman for Anwyl Homes said: “I can confirm that we do have rights of access to the land at Home Farm.
“We inherited the rights of access from the original landowner when we acquired the land, enabling us to use the road.
“We are intending to commence with the initial site preparation works in the next week or two with roads and sewers formally due to commence middle of February.”
A Wrexham Council spokesman said: “Planning permission is not required to utilise an existing vehicular access for a temporary period during construction.
“The planning permission for the housing development is subject to a condition requiring a construction method statement.
“While the details submitted do show the use of Old Meadow Court as a temporary means of access to the site, the issue of whether there is or is not a right of access over that land is not a material planning matter, it is rather a private matter between the parties involved.”
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