Seaside town's unfinished promenade car park 'looks dreadful'
Improvement works at Llanfairfechan's promenade car park are yet to be completed, due to ongoing negotiations between the council and Natural Resources Wales. Now residents have written to the council concerned that the car park could be left in its current 'dreadful' unfinished state over the busy summer months.
Conwy Council announced over a year ago that the free car park at Llanfairfechan, along with several others across the county, would see parking charges introduced with charges of 80p for one hour, £1.60 for two, £3.60 for up to four hours, £5 for over four hours, and £6.20 for 24 hours. Drivers will be charged £1.20 to park overnight.
The council said the improvement works would include improving the drainage, installing EV charging points, and adding 18 grasscrete car park spaces in the overflow section. They said at the time: 'The improved car park will have car parking charges, which will contribute towards the cost.' Sign up for the North Wales Live newslettersent twice daily to your inbox.
But the work has continually been delayed, with several residents, as well as Llanfairfechan Town Council and county councillors, writing to Conwy asking for updates on the delay, some with flooding concerns. 'We are now growing concerned that the unfinished part of the car park will be left in the state it's currently in over the summer months,' said one concerned resident.
'I have checked the planning portal, and even to someone who isn't an expert in flood management, it seems that without the other flood defences being in place or in the planning stages, it is highly unlikely that NRW (Natural Resources Wales) will approve the grasscrete.'
They added: 'I do hope you are not planning on leaving this section of car park unfinished until the flood defences are in place. It looks dreadful.' The council's planning officers said in a letter to residents the council had been prevented from completing the work, due to a dispute with Natural Resources Wales not being resolved.
A spokeswoman for Conwy County Council added: 'The majority of the improvement work to the car park area has been completed and parking is available.
'The work has included resurfacing, re-marking, the creation of disabled parking bays, and the inclusion of infrastructure to facilitate the future installation of EV chargers. The Traffic Regulation Order process for pay-and-display machines is currently underway.'
She added: 'Work on the remaining section of the car park is due to begin next week. We are also going through the planning application process to convert the grassed area near the car park into additional parking spaces."
NRW was contacted for a comment.
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