Electric Mountain visitor centre demolition on hold
PLANS to demolish a Snowdonia tourist attraction and replace it with a car park have been placed on pause by a planning committee.
Councillors were considering the future of the Electric Mountain Visitor Centre in Llanberis (pictured) which was used as a base for tours of Dinorwig Power Station and also had a shop, information centre and cafe.
It closed in late 2018 and has been boarded up and surrounded by a fence. 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 Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) or spend time at Llyn Padarn.
Parking has been an issue in the peak summer months with the car park tipped to help ease congestion. It would also include 12 AC fast charging points for electric vehicles and one DC fast charging point. Planning officers had recommended that the plans get the go-ahead from the local authority.
They said there was evidence provided to show the existing attraction was not financially viable. and that it “cannot be reasonably expected that the use(s) made previously of the building would become financially viable in the near future or the long-term and it would not make economic sense to continue to use the building as a community resource and visitor centre”.
But councillors on the committee have deferred the application until September. They want time to be given to consider alternative uses for the building next to Llyn Padarn.
In a covering letter to Gwynedd Council’s planning department Howard Jones, of First Hydro, had 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.”
In addition they said a programme of mid-life operational improvement works to Dinorwig Power Station has been identified and they would be unable to offer public visits to the power station whilst the programme of mid-life improvement works is taking place.
They added: “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 over time. 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 local community.”
Council officers had said there is evidence 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.”
Following the meeting a Gwynedd Council spokesperson said: “The Council’s Planning Committee has deferred determination of the application until September 5 to allow further consideration of alternative uses for the building.”