PLANS to build extra homes on the car park of a gym have been given the green light, despite concerns about overdevelopment.

Wrexham Council has approved proposals to create six new houses on land next to Total Fitness in Rhosddu, where 24 homes have already been built in recent years.

Ahead of a planning committee meeting, ward councillor Marc Jones said he felt the application represented ‘piecemeal development’ of the site but the scheme was backed in his absence after assurances were given by officers.

In a report Lawrence Isted, the authority’s head of environment and planning, said he did not feel the proposals would harm road safety or the amount of parking at the gym.

He said: “I understand the concerns about traffic generation, given that the Stansty Road/New Road is very busy at peak times. However Highways have not expressed concerns about this matter.

“Given the scale of the development it is unlikely to increase traffic to the extent of causing significant additional congestion at peak times or a danger to highway safety.

“The proposed development will result in the loss of 20 parking spaces in total.

“However this loss will be off-set by the provision of 20 new parking spaces on landscaped ground between the existing car park and the boundaries of dwellings to the east.”

Mr Isted suggested the council should enter a section 106 agreement to secure money from the developers towards funding for Rhosddu Primary School.

He also recommended they should contribute £6,000 for upgrades to the Rhosddu Road play area.

The proposals were backed unanimously by committee members.