Over 400 people attended the Public Meeting held at the Kinmel Manor on Friday evening, which was the culmination of recent efforts. Stan Yates, Conwy’s Chief Planning Officer and other attending dignitaries were left in no doubt to the overwhelming opposition to the LDP proposals.
Even though the long awaited Housing Needs Assessment and Flood Risk assessment for Towyn/Kinmel Bay are not yet available, the Council have included the proposed housing developments on green field sites for Abergele simply on the basis of candidate sites put forward by developers, rather than on the needs of the community, or indeed having due regard and proper consideration for other proposed developments in Conwy and neighbouring counties.
The Council have acknowledged that there is no public funding for the bypass, and have confirmed that developers building houses along its length will pay for it. The reality is that the bypass is either wanted or needed, and it is simply a feeble excuse for developers to make millions of pounds at the expense of Abergele losing what little green open space it has left.
The gypsy/traveller site search area has been included in the plan at the last minute further to pressure from the Welsh Assembly Government. Of all the potential locations for such a site in the County, the decision to choose east of Abergele is the most bizarre and ill thought out.
We are aware of other towns and villages within Conwy that have also been excluded from the LDP process through lack of effective consultation. In addition to this, the technically difficult objection forms make it impossible for the layperson to complete properly and therefore have their say. This clear abuse of government power and failure to follow the democratic process prompted AM Darren Millar to announce at the meeting that he would be seeking a Judicial Review of Conwy County Council’s handling of the LDP process.
Our next step is to coordinate completion of the objection forms, which are currently being prepared by our planning consultant. At present, these forms are the only accepted way of objecting to the proposals and they must be submitted by 3rd July 2009. This is going to be a mammoth task, and with help we will be organising drop in centres to help residents fill in the forms.
The Abergele LDP Action Group was formed only four weeks ago when a few neighbours got together to make a stand against these proposals. We have been inundated with expressions and gestures of support, and the attendance at the events we have organised is a clear mandate from the residents of Abergele to carry on the campaign. We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us and hope you will all continue to do so in our efforts to amend the LDP proposals for Abergele.
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