PLANS for a major housing development in Wrexham have been refused amid concerns over the impact on roads, schools and doctors surgeries.

The application for 600 houses on land off Holt Road forms one of they key sites in Wrexham Council’s Local Development Plan (LDP), which sets out land for future residential use and is being considered by inspectors.

Officers from the local authority had recommended the scheme put forward jointly by Barratt and Bloor Homes for approval, despite strong objections from the community.

It followed claims that it would help to address the demand for housing in the county borough.

However, the council’s planning committee voted almost unanimously to dismiss the proposals at a virtual meeting held yesterday (Monday, 27 July).

It came after a community leader highlighted that GP practices were already struggling to cope with the number of patients on their books.

Rhosnesni councillor Mike Davies said: “The national average GP patient ratio is one to 1,800 patients. In Wrexham, the ratio is currently one to 2,600 GP patients, which is already 44 per cent higher than the national average.

“They say many practices are experiencing considerable sustainability challenges largely due to staffing shortages and difficulty in recruitment. That situation is not going to improve.

“The local surgery is already undergoing massive problems, which you may or may not be aware about.”

Those opposed to the plans included three community councils and 23 neighbouring residents.

The Welsh Government’s rural affairs department also submitted an objection because of the loss of agricultural land, which it described as a matter of “national significance”.

Rhosddu councillor Marc Jones said he believed many of the issues raised had been ignored in the officer’s report.

He said: “I don’t remember a planning application with so many objections from statutory consultees, objections that are ignored in the officer’s recommendations.

“I think these are significantly material, so they are worth listing.

“Firstly, the Welsh Government’s Department of Rural Affairs, which says this land is best and most valuable – 26.3 hectares of national significance. They object to this development.

“Secondly, the North Wales Minerals and Waste Planning Service objects that the significant sand and gravel reserves on the site should not be sterilised by new builds. This goes against the mineral technical advice not and it’s ignored.

“Thirdly our creaky health service will creak all the more because there won’t be any contributions towards local GP services.”

Meanwhile, Labour group leader Dana Davies said she was not satisfied with the amount of affordable housing outlined in the application.

The council’s former monitoring officer, who lives on the neighbouring Fairways estate, also spoke out against the plans.

Trevor Coxon, who retired from the authority in 2018, said approving the proposals before the LDP receives the green light would prevent key improvements from being delivered.

He said: “We are of the view that to grant permission for this large development now will seriously jeopardise the deliverability of the LDP allocation with the vital infrastructure contributions.

“If that allocation is to progress, and we do not know yet pending receipt of the inspectors report, it must be developed in a holistic way to deliver the essential through distributor road, wider highway improvements and contributions to meet the pressures on schools, primary care and other services impacted by it.

“If this goes ahead in isolation, there is a great risk that those contributions and the through road will never be realised.

“The area will be left with all the problems and none of the solutions huge developments of this nature will cause.”

An agent acting on behalf of the developers tried to persuade councillors by reminding them the scheme was an integral part of the area’s planning blue print.

Vincent Ryan said: “To do anything other than grant planning permission at this stage for this proposal would be to ignore the years of hard work this council has put in producing a sound plan.

“It is telling that letters in support of this application more than double those received in objection to it.

“Clearly there are more people in the community that support this proposal than are against it.”

However, a total of 17 committee members voted to refuse permission at the end of the debate, with just one abstention from Erddig representative Paul Roberts.