February 27, 2020 - 1894 views
After meeting with residents who are up in arms over plans to demolish a historic building in their town, Clwyd West Assembly Member Darren Millar has called on the Heritage Minister to urgently intervene to safeguard it.
Darren met with residents in Rhos on Sea on Monday to see Larkfield House, a historic building which local housing association Cartrefi Conwy is seeking to demolish to develop apartments.
Larkfield House is a period property which is a former home of the Cayley family, which is notable in the development of the aviation industry.
Sir George Cayley Bt was an inventor and has been dubbed the ‘Father of Aviation’ due to his role in pioneering a series of aircraft which directly influenced the Wright brothers. The brothers used Cayley’s science to develop their own powered glider and attributed their success to Cayley’s ground-breaking work.
Local residents are opposed to the loss of the building and are calling for the plans to be redrafted to leave the house standing.
Darren said: “Larkfield House is an impressive building and, after visiting on Monday and learning more about its history, I can fully understand why the residents are so against plans to demolish it.
“The property has an imposing presence, great character and unique architecture, yet its future is in jeopardy because Cartrefi Conwy want to demolish it as part of a scheme to develop new apartments. Should the planning application be granted then none of the existing Larkfield House or its features will remain, which would be devastating.
“The residents have no objection to its conversion or to the building of a large extension behind it, they just want a compromise so that the plans can go through that please everyone and not just the contractors.
“I have therefore written to the Heritage Minister calling for urgent intervention to prevent the demolition of Larkfield House, highlighting the successful regeneration work that has been carried out by Conwy County Borough Council in recent years which has protected the character of the Bay of Colwyn Bay and calling for Larkfield House to be redeveloped in a similar, sensitive way which retains as much of the existing building and its features as possible while still creating new apartments.
“As I stated to the Minister, this approach would safeguard the character of this prominent building and help to tell the story of the remarkable Cayley family and its association with Rhos on Sea and North Wales.
“The planning application is due to be considered by Conwy County Borough Council’s Planning Committee on the 11th March 2020 and therefore urgent intervention of Welsh Ministers is vital if we are to prevent Larkfield House from being demolished and safeguard this important building for future generations”.
A spokesperson for Cartrefi Conwy said: “We are committed to providing social housing in the Rhos on Sea area where there is significant demand for this type of accommodation.
“If planning permission is granted, we would build 17 apartments – 15 two-bedroom properties and two single-bedroom properties - on the site occupied by the former Larkfield House care home and the former St Trillo’s Church Hall.
"Careful consideration was given to the possibility of renovating the existing buildings on site, as we have done previously, but it was concluded that this was not a practical or feasible solution to delivering affordable housing on this site.
“As a result of a pre-planning enquiry with the local authority and a public consultation event, the design of the development has evolved to address concerns raised by planning officers and local residents and the mass and scale of the proposed scheme has been reduced.
“We have been advised by the Local Authority that the building is not listed and does not appear on their list of Buildings of Significant Local Interest. In addition, Clwyd/Powys Archaeological Trust have indicated the building was constructed between 1905 and 1914 and has since been much altered and extended. This is long after the pioneering aviator, Sir George Caley, died in 1857.
“The planning application is due to be considered by Conwy County Borough Council’s Planning Committee at their April meeting. In the meantime, we have commissioned an independent heritage consultant to provide us with a full assessment of the site and this will be submitted with our planning application.
“The redevelopment of this site would help address the shortage of affordable homes locally in line with Cartrefi Conwy’s £45 million strategy to create 428 new homes over the next three years as part of the Welsh Government’s strategy to build 20,000 new homes.”
