FRESH plans have been lodged for a private 61-bed hospital for residential nursing and health care in Rhyl.

Proposals have been submitted to Denbighshire County Council by Nadarajah Pragash of Headlands Nursing Home in Llangollen. Mr Pragash is hoping to transform former offices, on Brighton Road, Rhyl, into the hospital which will house six wards.

A previous application, for conversion to a hospital for the residential nursing and health care for those with mental disorder and who may have associated personality and trauma-related issues, was refused by the local authority’s planning committee on July 19 2019.

The re-submitted application addresses both the reasons for refusal and issues raised on appeal.

A planning policy statement, by agent Huw Evans Planning, said: “Rhyl is favoured due to its geographical position and access links to the A55 and public transport.

“An existing building which can be adapted is preferred to an undeveloped site as new build would not be as cost effective and is likely to would have involved a considerably longer timescale for completion.

“The agents confirm that, throughout the marketing period, the property has been fully exposed to the market. However, during this entire marketing period, there has only been two enquiries of any substance but neither of these for office purposes. Of these, the first was from a London based developer for residential conversion purposes (but who subsequently withdrew) and the second from Denbighshire County Council.

“Of particular relevance and significance is that the Council’s interest was for demolition and subsequent re-development for residential purposes. It is understood that their intention was to develop the site with their own adjacent land holding which was used for car parking purposes during their occupation of 64 Brighton Road.

“It should also be noted that for a similar period of time, the more modern ex HMRC office building at ‘Llys Anwyl’, Churton Road, Rhyl has been actively marketed both on a freehold basis and to let (whole or floor by floor). Neither of the joint marketing agents have received any meaningful office enquiries despite recent re-circulation of details. This demonstrates that the market demand for office accommodation of this type in Rhyl is effectively non-existent.

“The premises are no longer suitable as office accommodation without significant adaption, alteration and repairs.

“The property has been actively marketed but despite all efforts over a period of two years there is no demand for the continued use of the premises as B1 office accommodation," it added.

“It is proposed to develop the site in stages with 150 staff employed on site when at full capacity.”

Addressing the appeal inspector’s report, the planning statement added: “The earlier reason for refusal focussed on the lack of information regarding alternative sites and evidence of the marketing the site.”

In conclusion, the document states: “In conclusion it has been demonstrated that the requirements of Policy PSE3 have been met through a thorough marketing exercise and that there are no suitable alternative sites that meet the site identification criteria.

“The site constitutes previously developed land where there are no constraints to render it unsuitable for the development proposed.”

“The proposal represents a sustainable form of development contributing to job growth, regeneration and community benefit in the area.”

As part of the public consultation, an officer at the Community Safety Department at North Wales Police, has put forward comments.

He said: "The longer the building stands unused, the more likely it is to be a generator for crime and disorder.

"In my previous report dated May 24 2019, I concurred with the comments made by BCUHB in that I was unable to accurately assess the impact of the proposed hospital due to a lack of detail in terms of the operation of the site.

"I must balance any potential risk with the reality of the current situation.

"Since the building became vacant some 30 months ago, North Wales Police have received 22 calls from neighbouring residents complaining about anti-social behaviour; and there have been 16 recorded crimes. The crimes include

six burglaries, one arson, one wounding, and the remainder were mostly for drug related offences. And these statistics are only from people who have reported matters to us; it’s a certainty that the actual number of incidents is much higher.

"I can only say that when some progress is made with the building, be that refurbishment or demolition, we will see the incidents of crime and disorder come down."

Another 'interested party' said: "There are already a wide range of mental health facilities in North Wales, which have to rely on importing patients from England.

"This is counter-intuitive to the development of additional mental health facilities and suggests that any new development would also rely on importing patients.

"They also state that their development plan will not impact on the already stretched NHS facilities in relation to staff recruitment as they will only be recruiting six nurses and 20 care assistants initially. This has the potential to

decimate some elements of the independent sector care home and domiciliary care market in the Rhyl area who struggle to recruit nursing and care staff."