Planners say bid to replace attraction with car park should be passed
PLANS to demolish a Snowdonia tourist attraction and replace it with a car park have been recommended for approval by planners.
The Electric Mountain Visitor Centre in Llanberis was previously used as a base for tours of Dinorwig Power Station and also had a shop, information centre and cafe.
But it closed in 2018 and has been boarded up and fenced off.
A planned redevelopment of the centre was abandoned after it was hit by “insurmountable challenges”.
Owner First Hydro Ltd submitted an application last year to demolish the site and replace it with a 110-space car park.
This is much-needed in the village which is a hotspot for visitors wanting to climb or take a train up Snowdon or spend time at Llyn Padarn.
Parking has been an issue in the peak summer months.
It would also include 13 charging points for electric vehicles.
Planning officers have recommended the plans get the go-ahead from the local authority. The planning committee will meet on Monday to discuss the application.
The report by planning officers found evidence that the existing attraction was not financially viable and of “genuine attempts to market the facility, which have been unsuccessful”.
The report added: “Within this context, the proposal would involve the loss of one type of community resource to be replaced with another alternative community resource that also addresses the local community’s requirements and needs by providing additional parking spaces that would assist in alleviating the increasing parking pressures within the village throughout the year, and especially during holiday periods.”
The report concluded: “It is not considered that the proposal is contrary to local or national policies and there is no material planning matter that outweighs these policy considerations. To this end, therefore, it is believed this proposal is acceptable.”
In a covering letter to Gwynedd Council’s planning department Howard Jones of First Hydro stated: “The visitor centre was underused and too large for the range of activities that it accommodated.
“The building was inefficient and expensive to heat and maintain and many of the building services were approaching the end of their operation life and required replacement.
“[A] temporary visitor centre operated in 2019 and the visitor centre building was secured whilst tenders were sought for its refurbishment.
“First Hydro did not receive any acceptable tenders for the refurbishment of the visitor centre building. Meanwhile, a programme of mid-life operational improvement works to Dinorwig Power Station has been identified and agreed and these works, are likely to take several years to complete.
“First Hydro will be unable to offer public visits to the power station whilst the programme of mid-life improvement works is taking place.
“Thus, First Hydro has no requirement for the visitor centre building in the foreseeable future and the condition of the building is likely to deteriorate. First Hydro has sought to secure the building; however, vandalism, security and consequential liabilities are a cause for ongoing concern and the disused appearance of the visitor centre adversely affects the visual amenity of the area.
“Consequently, First Hydro proposes to demolish the majority of the existing visitor centre building and to bring the site back into a use which is beneficial to the general area and, following earlier community engagement, appears to have broad support within the community.”