Campaigners have launched a legal challenge against plans to turn a nature reserve into a £100m holiday village with 500 holiday chalets in the poorest place in North Wales. Whilst planning permission for a new holiday resort at Penrhos Coastal Park in Holyhead, Anglesey was initially given back in 2016, local campaigners say the original planning consent is flawed - and have arranged for a solicitor to write to Anglesey Council in a bid to halt the development.
Campaigners say it's vitally important they stop the holiday village being built as it would be an "environmental catastrophe" for the island, particularly as the development would sit in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and could threaten the habitat of rare red squirrels, which have made a home for themselves in the 27-acre woodland. Their protests have garnered the support of hundreds of local people - and a string of celebrities too, including presenters Carol Vorderman, Joanna Lumley and Iolo William and singer Dafydd Iwan.
In a new letter to Anglesey Council, campaigners say the planning permission granted to Cumbria-based development company Land & Lakes back in 2016 should have been acted-upon by August 22, 2022 - and say the company missed this deadline and should therefore not be able to move forward with their development plans, as reported by our sister site NorthWalesLive.
But Land & Lakes say a material start was made on the project and therefore says it continues to hold planning consent "in perpetuity"
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Solicitors acting on behalf of the Save Penrhos Coastal Park (SPCP) campaign initiated legal action after Land & Lakes submitted three new planning applications last week. The new applications are understood to be linked to Section 106, which requires developers to contribute to the local area and to consider the impact of the Welsh language.
Campaigners have launched an appeal to raise £20,000 to challenge Land & Lakes - and have so far raised more than £17,000, which has helped pay for solicitor costs. Going forwards, they say they're confident they can arrange a judicial review, if needed, and have the funds to support them.
In the meantime, however, Anglesey Council's planning committee will meet on Wednesday, February 1 to discuss Land & Lakes' new planning applications and SPCP's solicitors' letter in response. It's understood SPCP is planning to bombard councillors and local policiticans with letters of objection to the most recent Land & Lakes applications whilst their solicitors are also asking Land & Lakes to submit a new planning application - though the company say a new application won't be needed.
A spokesperson said: "An effective start to the development at Penrhos was made in 2021, which means the planning permission for the site is now held in perpetuity."
It's understood the initial works Land & Lakes have begun include replacing a rotting section of boardwalk and adding stones to a footpath, along with the removal of a section of carpet from the Bailiff's Tower. SPCP solicitors claim pre-commencement was not signed off as it should have been, and that these works started "do not constitute a material operation capable of lawfully implementing a permission".
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