THE MAYOR of Wrexham says more time is needed to consider plans for a traveller site which could be located in one of three villages.

Wrexham Council submitted its Local Development Plan (LDP) suggesting possible sites for new development to the Welsh Government towards the end of last year.

A pre-hearing was held at the Guildhall yesterday ahead of full hearings where the Welsh Government will scrutinise the plans, due to take place from September.

The majority of members in the county borough voted through the plan in its current form, despite strong opposition and claims the document was ‘fundamentally flawed’.

Many of the concerns raised centred on the scale of development, as well as the potential location of three new gypsy and traveller sites in Brymbo, Hanmer and Llay.

The Mayor of Wrexham, Cllr Rob Walsh, whose Llay ward is being considered as a location for the site, raised concerns about the scheduling of discussions for these issues to the chartered town planner, Sian Worden.

He said: “I noticed that you scheduled in the housing allocations sites for September 24 and 25, and also accommodation for gypsies and travellers on September 26, that’s three days and I don’t think you’ve allocated any days later on.

“My only concern is that, because there are some very contentious sites with regards to housing allocation as well as gypsy and traveller sites, these three days may not be long enough.

“Could I suggest that for the gyspy and traveller sites especially, I would suggest at least a day for each because I do think there will be a lot of public interest, a lot of public in attendance, and a lot to discuss regarding various sites.”

However, Ms Worden said: “I understand that there is a lot of public interest, but it’s not a public meeting and there are limits to the number of participants.

“I’m going to leave it as it is for the time being and we will see how it goes."

Another major concern raised by a few in attendance was the user-friendliness of the Wrexham Council website, with some saying they struggled to access the required information to follow developments.

David Highlands, of Rossett, said: “As a member of the public, I am concerned that the council website is not user-friendly for people to find what it is they need to find.

“I would therefore ask that any news items and documents which now proceed to go up are clearly represented and shown as being submitted by the inspector for public consumption because at times, it looks like they are all council documents, and it is not easy to find.”

Ms Worden said: “We are very keen that the website is user-friendly because it’s an integral tool.

“I think that it will become more apparent as time goes on as to who has submitted which document because right now the majority of documents that are on there are those that have been produced by the council.”

The full hearing sessions are due to start on Tuesday, September 3.

Once the hearings have concluded, the inspectors will create a final report, which the council will be required to comply with.

The LDP would then be in effect until 2028 and during the period it would be used to guide development for housing, employment, retail and other uses.

It also sets out the policies that will be used to decide planning applications and safeguard areas of land requiring protection.