Plans to turn fire-damaged Rhondda pub into care home under consideration

There are plans to turn a former Rhondda pub which was heavily damaged by a recent fire into a care home.
An application for the reconstruction and conversion of the Grade II-listed
Wattstown Hotel in Aberllechau Road, Wattstown, into a 12-bedroom care home is due to be considered by Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT)’s planning committee on Thursday, October 24.
The planning report said that the Wattstown Hotel was listed for its special interest as a largely unaltered colliery community hotel of circa 1900.
The hotel is a three-storey rectangular building, plus basement, which was in a poor condition, having been empty and unused for a number of years and is now in a substantially worse condition due to a fire in July.
The submission was originally intended to provide 22 bedrooms but during the initial public consultation, concerns were raised about the scale of the accommodation being too great for the size of the building and that it would be considered an over-development.
Feedback from the Joint Committee of the National Amenity Societies, regarding the proposed internal layout and external alterations to the roof, suggested that this would be inappropriate given the building’s listed status so the scheme was changed and revised plans were received.
The planning report said that a considerable period of time has passed since the revised details were submitted mainly due to a change of personnel at the applicant’s agent and the requirement to submit a form of bat assessment as well as updates to the heritage impact and planning statements.
The building was then heavily damaged by a large fire so that only the external elevations remain but the agent confirmed that the applicant wanted to continue with the application and intended for the building to be reconstructed within the shell.
The planning report said that whilst the reconstruction works will be significant, the external changes to the form of the building are minor.
There were two objections in the original consultation which were resubmitted for the second consultation, after the revised plans were submitted, along with one other objection.
Their reasons included the absence of parking provision for future residents and staff as well as contractors during construction, high existing demand for on-street parking from other residents and vehicles associated with the nearby builders’ merchants, highway dangers from speeding traffic and poor lighting, whether the development would result in the need for permit parking and that additional on-street parking could cause congestion and problems for emergency vehicles and bus access.
In recommending approval, planning officers said: “As a residential use, the proposed care home would be unlikely to have a detrimental impact upon the amenity of the nearest neighbouring properties.
“Furthermore, the beneficial re-use of the building would represent a significant improvement to the appearance of the site and therefore, given its prominent location, the wider street scene.
“The concerns relating to the adjacent highway network and the limited parking availability are noted and such constraints are comparable to other developments considered previously by members, where a large unused building, from a different era, is proposed to be put to a new use.
“However, in the planning balance and given the lawful existing planning use, greater weight is given to the need for a sympathetic redevelopment of the site.” ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

By BBC LDRS ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​