Welsh Government has put a controversial 102-home development in Prestatyn on hold while it considers whether to “call-in” the scheme.

Denbighshire council granted planning approval for the new build social housing, off Alexandra Drive in the town, in mid-June.

This was despite the town’s council, local county councillors and more than 40 objectors begging for the scheme to be thrown out.

Their concerns included it not being within the local development plan (LDP), it being pasture land and the potential for flood risk in the area.

Objectors also said it cause over-intensification of the site – and a lack of infrastructure, access to the scheme and traffic flow would be problematic.

Vale  of Clwyd MP James Davies asked for the decision to be “called-in”, the process whereby planning inspectors re-assess whether permission for the scheme was justified – as has the constituency’s Senedd Member Gareth Davies.

They have also backed a petition signed by more than 100 local residents demanding the approval is reversed.

Now Denbighshire council has confirmed the scheme is on hold while mandarins in Cardiff have a look at the detail.

A spokesman for the local authority said: “The council has received a letter from Welsh Government explaining it is giving consideration to calling-in the planning application to allow Welsh ministers to make the eventual decision.

“Until the Welsh Government decides whether to call the application in or not, the council cannot issue any planning decision.”

The application was a re-submission of a similar one made in July 2020, which itself was revised in December the same year, by Castle Green Homes (formerly Mcbryde).

The finished dwellings will become social housing units, with 30 two-bed, 57 three-bed and 15 four-bed homes.

The new estate will satisfy some of the need for 500 people waiting for somewhere to live permanently, according to social housing provider Adra.

It also emerged Welsh Government would be helping the scheme with grant funding.

At the time the application was heard planning officer Lara Griffiths said there was “clearly a need for affordable housing”and she claimed 59% of householders in Prestatyn were unable to afford homes on the open market.

She also said the town had “the highest social housing need in Denbighshire”.

Planning officer Paul Mead said the development was a “good thing for the county” and warned rejecting it could lead to an appeal – a statement he called “a fact, not a threat”.

Despite the objections councillors narrowly backed officer recommendations to approve the scheme by nine votes to seven.

After being told the scheme had been put on hold, Prestatyn North county councillor Paul Penlington said: “Despite the massive need for housing in Prestatyn, building an estate of this size on a potential flood plain is setting residents up for serious problems in the near future.

“Current extensive flooding events in Germany and China show what happens when authorities ignore the developing climate crisis.

“DCC have no option but to follow current planning legislation, that legislation is not fit for purpose in the current climate.

“Our MP and Member of the Senedd need to step up and push for changes to planning legislation instead of playing local politics with very real local concerns.”