MORE houses being built would mean it was only a matter of time before someone was killed on a main road, a meeting was told.
That was the warning of a councillor as members of Wrexham’s planning committee refused to give the go-ahead for a scheme to build 22 new homes on a site fronting Wrexham Road, Rhostyllen, at their meeting on Monday.
Imperial Commercials was seeking approval to build the houses around a central green on part of a site currently used by a company selling and repairing commercial vehicles, which is planning to move to another part of Wrexham.
At the July meeting of the planning committee, members had raised concerns about the affect of more properties on the insfrastructure of the area.
They were also concerned about the extra traffic the scheme would generate and called for the company to make a contribution towards a signalised pedestrian crossing on Wrexham Road.
At Monday’s meeting, planning officers said the scheme would not mean over-development of the area and reported that the applicant’s highways consultant had said there was no justification for them to fund a signalised crossing.
However, they did agree to pay for improved pedestrian refuges.
Esclusham Independent member Cllr Mark Pritchard, who lives in Rhostyllen, said: “There is certainly justification for signals in this area.
“This is one of the busiest arterial roads into Wrexham and over the years there have been 11 fatalities on it.
“It is only a matter of time before there is another fatality on this stretch of road.
“What good is a pedestrian refuge to a mother with a couple of children trying to cross the road?
“We would be asking them to run the gauntlet of traffic.”
Committee chairman, Holt Conservative member Cllr Michael Morris, pointed out that if the National Trust went ahead with its controversial scheme to build 223 homes in the same area, they would pay for a signalised crossing of Wrexham Road.
But members voted 12-5 to back a proposal from the area’s councillor, Ponciau Independent member Paul Pemberton, that the scheme be refused due to the absence of a signalised crossing.