A UNIVERSITY’s plans to gain permission for more than 100 homes have hit a possible snag amid fears it could add four minutes onto journey times at a key junction

Glyndwr University entered proposals for a housing project in New Broughton, Wrexham, in August last year.

If successful, it intends to sell the permission on to developers in order to fund £60 million worth of improvements to its main campus on Mold Road in the town.

However, the scheme on grazing land at Gatewen Road has been met with opposition by members of the community amid concerns it will cause gridlock at the junction with Berse Road, which is close to Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

Wrexham Council’s highways department has now issued a response which recommends the plans for 112 properties for refusal.

It comes after one of its officers said it would cause ‘significant’ queuing issues for drivers.

In the report, Peter Douthwaite said: “The introduction of the additional traffic generated by 112 dwellings result in traffic turning out of Gatewen Road onto Berse Road being over theoretical capacity by 2020 with a significant increase in queue lengths.

“The 2035 baseline plus development shows left turn queues at this junction increase from 206 seconds to 443 seconds i.e. the 112 dwellings increase queueing at the junction by nearly four minutes.

“The development proposals show no intention to mitigate these queueing issues; the proposals are therefore considered to be unacceptable.”

He added that he found traffic projections put forward by consultants working on behalf of the university to be ‘surprising’ as they did not accurately reflect congestion in the area.

The analysis showed a queue of around one vehicle on the approach to a key roundabout near the Ramada Hotel during afternoon rush hour, when Mr Douthwaite said it is often hit by lengthy queues towards the hospital.

He said: “From personal experience I know that is totally incorrect.

“Traffic is generally queuing all the way up the hill back toward the hospital.

“Any driver using Rhyd Broughton Lane at the pm peak hour would question that there is only a four second delay with just a single car in the queue.”

A Glyndwr University spokesman said the university had been in contact with the council to try and address concerns over traffic since the report was published.

However, he added that it did not wish to comment any further.