Whilst the overall PS focused on the Coastal Communities of Conwy is supported the distribution of development does not appear consistent with the principles of sustainable development. The decision to concentrate development on just five major strategic sites across the County is by its very definition unsustainable. The PS fails to adequately explain why only these sites were considered suitable for inclusion.
A more diversified strategy should have been considered that included smaller sites that could be more readily assimilated into existing development and communities. Excluding some larger settlements along the coast will frustrate their ongoing development and renewal potentially impacting on the viability of local community services and public infrastructure including schools. There is also an inherent risk that putting so many "eggs" in so few "baskets " the Council may become a hostage to fortune in how these sites are developed. This approach very much plays into the hands of larger volume housebuilders who maximise profit against other considerations of design, affordable housing and community facilities
The proposed allocation within Old Colwyn is potentially the worst example of what will be a completely unsustainable development that is incapable of being properly absorbed within the fabric of the existing settlement. The inclusion of such a large single allocation will undermine the on-going regeneration of Colwyn Bay itself. Although much progress has been made in bringing forward smaller brownfield sites within the town the inclusion of such a large site would make it more difficult to sustain progress deflecting investment away from the centre.
The need for major improvements to the public infrastructure associated with these sites and the Old Colwyn one in particular does not seem to have been fully explored within the PS. For example the scale of development envisaged in Old Colwyn will impact on the wider highway network as well as the already substandard local road system serving the site. Prior to this site being proposed a full transport and highway study should have been undertaken to fully understand the extent and potential cost of the improvements required to the area's transport network