A RHYL office will be converted into a four-bedroom house after Denbighshire Council’s planning committee went against council officers’ advice.
Debra Moore applied to Denbighshire’s planning department, seeking permission to change the property on Bedford Street, Rhyl, into a home.
The office was previously used by a series of community groups but had previously existed as a house.
But Natural Resources Wales (NRW) advised Denbighshire Council the building was in an area susceptible to flooding and that the council should turn down the application.
Consequently, at a planning committee meeting at Ruthin’s county hall, officers advised councillors to refuse the plans.
But the planning committee voted against the advice, arguing the area was already used for housing, that the county was facing an affordable housing crisis, and that the council was investing millions in its flood defence schemes.
Cllr Alan James said: “I’m a little bit concerned with this application, in terms of the refusal.
“I understand we are following NRW views, and that puts our officers in a very difficult position.
“This change of use is already bordering a development area.
“The street itself is very much a mixed quality. There are offices. There are businesses. There are also long-standing cottages, houses, and so on.”
He added: “At the present time in Rhyl, we are embarking on a flood-defence scheme, (costing) somewhere in the region of £60m plus.
“If we are spending all that money, it begs the question why we are potentially in the position of having to refuse this?”
Cllr Andrea Tomlin added: “This property, to my knowledge, has been in residential use for most of its time, and its commercial office use was temporary.
“To that end, I believe, flipping back to residential use should carry some weight in this matter.”
Cllr Ellie Chard agreed.
“I feel really strongly about the fact the NRW are saying about the flooding,” she said.
“It’s the same thing that happened last month in Prestatyn.
“If we listen to the NRW, all of Victoria Road West, Marine Road, Prestatyn, Coast Road, Rhyl, right through north of Wellington Road, according to them, we’d all be flooded, and we need the housing.”
Cllr Cheryl Williams summed up the feeling in the chamber.
“I can’t see why if it was residential before it can’t be again,” she said.
Councillors voted unanimously in favour of the application, but planning officers will add a list of conditions to the approval.
