Bangor's Farrar Road development decision delayed

Jun 5 2008 By Alex Hickey

PLANS to demolish Farrar Road - home of Bangor City Football Club -  to create a giant £50m pound retail, leisure and housing development have been put on ice for two months.

Gwynedd Council’s Arfon planning committee last night deferred a decision on the ambitious project to gather more information on the impact it will have on the city.

Cheshire based developers Morbaine plan to convert the Farrar Road ground and the nearby Masonic Hall and other disused buildings into shops, leisure facilities such as a bowling alley, 327 student apartments and 25 affordable homes.

According to the developers if the project is given the go-ahead, it will create more than 300 jobs and have an estimated turnover of £13.8m.

As part of the agreement for the purchase of the site Morbaine is already developing a new football ground for Bangor City FC at Nantporth on land they own there.

However specialist planning consultants commissioned by the council, Scott Wilson Ltd, to assess the need for this type of development in Bangor questioned the 62,000 sq ft retail element.

The firm’s senior planner, Joanne Wort, in a letter to the council, concluded: "On the evidence provided we would have to advise that the proposed retail element of the current application is contrary to the to the existing planning policy framework and should be refused."

She added that if the council was minded to grant permission, links between the site and the town centre had to be "maximised".

The owners of the newly built Menai Centre have also objected to the scheme, describing the retail implications for the town centre as "significant".

Despite these objections council planning officials recommended approval.

Arfon planning manager Hywel Thomas said that on balance the "regeneration and employment" benefits outweigh the concerns about retail need.

Councillors at the meeting and a local residents group also expressed concern at the creation of yet more student flats in Bangor and the lack of car parking spaces for the site.

The city’s resident’s association (COBRA) believe the building of more than 300 students flats without sufficient parking (15 spaces), would create "meltdown" for the traffic system.

Bangor member Dai Rees Jones said: "I’m not opposed to student flats if we know there is a need for them. We need to involve the (Bangor) University in this.

"My great fear is that we follow what has happened in Cardiff Bay where there is an overprovision, developers pulling out and no one wants to be there."

Councillors unanimously voted to defer the application for two months.