APPEALS against decisions to turn down plans for a housing development and a new road in Meliden have both been rejected.

The applications, made by Penrhyn Homes, involved the construction of 133 homes on Mindale Farm on Ffordd Hendre, as well as a new road, of roughly 400m in length, from Ffordd Talargoch (A547) to land at the farm.

Denbighshire County Council rejected both plans, and Penrhyn Homes’ appeal against both decisions have now also been dismissed by Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW).

This follows a virtual inquiry held from March 1-4, and a site visit made from March 15-16.

Richard Jenkins, the appointed planning inspector, wrote regarding the proposed housing development: “Whilst I have found that the development would not have any unacceptable impacts on peak time congestion or highway safety within the area, I have found that it has not been satisfactorily demonstrated that the proposed drainage strategy could be implemented without increasing the risk of flooding off-site.

“Such matters could not be reasonably dealt with through the use of planning conditions and neither are they outweighed by the matters in favour of the development, including the status of the site as a residential allocation and the positive contribution that it would make to the local housing supply.”

Since an initial proposal for the homes was made public in 2016, it has been rejected, dismissed by appeal, revised and rejected again.

When Penrhyn Homes lodged a second application, which included proposals for a new access road to the site from the A547, it was again refused against the advice of the officers.

Among the main objections from residents was that the extra traffic would exacerbate problems on the A547, where motorists often have to wait a long time to emerge, especially at peak periods.

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On the proposal for a new road, Mr Jenkins added: “The development would clearly represent an incursion into what is an agricultural field, and would represent a prominent urbanising feature when viewed from the visually sensitive summit at Graig Fawr.

“The impacts from this vantage point could not be mitigated through a scheme of landscaping.

“As such, without the necessary planning permission associated with Appeal A (housing development), I concur with the council’s assessment that the development would represent an unjustified form of development.”

Previously, anger arose regarding the decision to hold the planning inquiry in March online rather than as an in-person event.

Petitions drawn up in opposition to the decision garnered roughly 160 signatures.

Former councillor and mayor Bob Paterson, of the Mindale Opposition Group, organised a public event at Meliden Community Centre, as he felt that a virtual inquiry would limit the input of residents, particularly those without Internet access.

Residents were given the opportunity to follow the inquiry on a screen at the community centre by Denbighshire County Council.

Though, Mr Paterson also took issue with the way in which this was carried out, telling the Journal in March: “The whole event was extremely technical and concerned many legal arguments, something that was to be expected.

“Overall, my interpretation of this event and its accessibility (for) non-technical and non-internet (people) has been extremely disappointing; the reasons for not holding a live event are questionable.”

Later in March, Mr Paterson called for the inquiry to be declared void and re-run, which was quashed by PEDW.

Mr Paterson had also received the backing of the MP and MS for Vale of Clwyd, Dr James Davies and Gareth Davies respectively, in his ultimately unsuccessful attempts to have the inquiry staged in-person.