CONCERNS that an Anglesey seaside village is getting “bigger and bigger” were raised as planners permitted a prominent cliff-top house to be replaced with a larger two-storey dwelling.
Anglesey County Council agreed to the demolition and rebuild of a single-storey house called ‘Ponta Delgada’, which is located at the western side of the Ravenspoint Estate at Trearddur Bay.
The plan, submitted by a Mr and Mrs S Midwood, was approved at the council’s planning committee meeting on Wednesday, September 3.
Local member Councillor Keith Roberts had called the matter in as an “overdevelopment, inappropriate in scale and out of character with neighbouring homes”.
Fifteen letters of objection had been received and the Trearddur Bay Community Council had raised concerns over the “height and prominence of the proposed development on the headland”.
Cllr Roberts told the meeting it had been “a contentious issue” in the village which he said was getting “bigger and bigger”.
Head of planning and development Rhys Lloyd Jones said although the house was the highest of the cliff edge properties in its area of Ravenspoint, an increase in the size and height for the new house was considered “acceptable”.
Demolition of the existing dwelling and erection of a replacement complied with policy and he said the house’s “generous” plot was capable of accommodating a larger dwelling.
The new house would “integrate into the surrounding built environment, which features a range of building types and designs”.
The privacy and amenities of nearby residential properties would be maintained and roads unaffected, and the recommendation was to permit, subject to conditions.
Public speaker Hayward Milton said he was a neighbour and ran the Ravenspoint Trearddur Bay Facebook group.
He said the house sat on an outer corner of Ravenspoint and when viewed from the sea its position was “starkly prominent” and also visible from Trearddur’s main bay and approach from Rhoscolyn.
He said the original property had been developed as part of a wider housing scheme designed by award-winning Welsh architect Brian Lingard who had stipulated in the 1960s that “all the dwelling houses were to be single storey buildings”.
He felt the new house would be “huge and conspicuous,” and could lead to further “uncontrollable development”.
It was also in a “prominent and sensitive” part of the Anglesey coastline.
Agent Cadnant Planning’s Sioned Edwards said the house did not have to be the same as others, as “a precedent” was set with other two-storey homes nearby.
The planning officer Rhys Lloyd Jones also noted that any previous covenants would end with the house’s demolition.
Cllr Jeff Evans said he felt Trearddur Bay was “getting larger and larger”.
He said: “It has become, not a place for residential homes anymore, in my view, it’s more of a holiday complex, almost right across the area, applications are coming to this council for bigger, larger properties.
“But we have to permit it, whether we like it or not. I think we have no legal basis to turn it down.”
Cllr Robert Llewelyn Jones said he knew Trearddur Bay “very well”.
“I recall Ravenspoint when there were no houses, only a hotel. It was very nice,” he said.
“But I am concerned about the amount of development that goes on in Trearddur Bay. Houses seem to be getting larger and larger, that’s the name of the game.
“The whole structure and appearance of the small village as it were has changed dramatically. I think it should be taken into account when we look at villages on Anglesey, we want to retain the old pictures, the views we had.
“Unfortunately people are finding there is money to be made out of making houses bigger. I’d have preferred a house of a similar size. I think this opens the floodgates on this site for others to take a similar approach.”
He proposed refusal, but no seconded was found.
Cllr Ken Hughes proposed approval, seconded by Cllr Dafydd Roberts.
In a vote all were in favour, bar one.
