Janet backs 15,000-strong petition

Plaid Cymru's North Wales AM Janet Ryder has backed a 15,000-strong petition against a sub-regional plan that links North East Wales to Cheshire and Merseyside.

Janet Ryder was down in the Assembly building in Cardiff to welcome the People's Council of North Wales campaign group as they presented their petition - the largest ever presented to the Assembly.

She said:

 "The petition's size demonstrates the strength of feeling in Wrexham, Denbighshire and Flintshire on this matter. The West Cheshire/North East Wales sub-regional strategy is repeatedly played down by council officers but it is evidently a material planning consideration as they prepare their Local Development Plans. 

"It's important that the concerns of the people were listened to and that local housing needs are paramount. The North East has seen thousands of homes built in the past 10 years and also seen house prices rise way beyond the reach of the average local wage. The latest news that Denbighshire wants to treble the number of houses in Bodelwyddan and effectively create a new commuter town on the A55 reinforces the thrust of this strategy.

"The plan has been developed without people's consent. This petition is a wake-up call to planners, politicians and developers to say 'enough is enough' and calling a halt to overdevelopment. I commend the hard work carried out by the campaign to raise awareness, to highlight the dangers to the environment, our communities and the fragile Welsh identity in many of these areas."

Pictured with Janet Ryder AM are Cllr Carrie Harper, of Wrexham, and other campaigners down in Cardiff Bay.

AM marches against marble church housing scheme

North Wales Assembly Member Janet Ryder has marched with community campaigners fighting plans to treble the number of houses in their village, saying it is a "warning to us all" of what can happen when local needs are ignored.

 The Plaid Cymru AM for North Wales spoke after joining more than 100 local people who walked across fields at Bodelwyddan that have been put forward for an extra 1715 homes next to the village's landmark marble church. There are currently 800 homes in the village. Janet Ryder said: "The turnout amongst villagers on a wet and windy day reflects the concerns people have about the over-development in this area. Building on fertile green fields like these is unacceptable. I have already raised concerns in the Assembly about this and other housing developments in north-east Wales, which have far more to do with the profits of developers than local housing need.

"If this part of Wales does not have very careful planning in the coming round of Local Development Plans, we're going to see a ribbon of commuter estates and dormitory villages created along the A55 and A483 corridors. This has nothing to do with creating communities with a sustainable future and local people are right to fight this.

"The tone of the campaign group is one of measured anger. This is not a simple NIMBY - Not in my back yard - attitude because residents in Bodelwyddan understand that this is part of a bigger picture whereby the north-east is effectively being used to service the housing needs of the Liverpool and Cheshire region. It does not make sense to create new commuter estates along the A55 for people to travel back and fore to Liverpool and Manchester. That's not a sustainable community and puts huge added pressures on the local infrastructure."

The Bodelwyddan Development Action Group, which organised the protest, also held a mass meeting last week. The meeting, at the village community centre, was chaired by local resident and former Conwy Council chief executive Derek Barker, who slammed the plans. He said: "If you're looking to develop an area, you don't start off with housing. Past housing growth has had no impact on affordability because we have an area of poor wages based on tourism and agriculture. These plans are not based on local need. We need honesty from Denbighshire County Council because this will just allow Cheshire people to have a house here."

Janet Ryder added: "These proposals for Bodelwyddan are just the most extreme example of what happens when the needs of a local community are ignored and trampled on. We have a disturbing situation where planners in Flintshire, Conwy, Denbighshire and Wrexham councils are having to reflect the housing needs of a wider sub-region that includes Cheshire and Merseyside through the Mersey-Dee Alliance. I see no similar demand for councils in those areas to reflect the needs of people in this part of Wales - it's one-way traffic."