Gwynedd holiday parks offer to house Wylfa Newydd workers

Workers at the planned Wylfa Newydd power station on Anglesey could find themselves housed at two holiday parks on the Gwynedd coast.

Horizon, the firm behind plans to build the £8bn nuclear plant , is hoping to provide accommodation for the thousands of workers needed for its construction.

It is expected as many as 8,500 will be needed to build the station , with only around 2,300 based near enough to commute.

The plant is not expected to start generating electricity until at least 2025, with the first construction workers expected in around two years’ time, pending permission being granted.

In the meantime, Bourne Leisure, which owns two holiday parks at Haven Greenacres, Morfa Bychan, Porthmadog, and Haven Hafan-y-Mor, near Pwllheli, has shown interest in offering places for the workers to stay in a submission to the Anglesey and Gwynedd Joint Local Development Plan.

The submission on their behalf by Arwel Evans, of planning consultants Nathaniel Lichfield Partners, states: “Bourne Leisure considers that the existing stock of holiday accommodation, including that provided at Greenacres and Hafan-y-Mor, may be able to assist in meeting the housing requirement for the 8,500 construction workers on site at peak construction periods.”

Original plans state the workforce will be accommodated via various means, including purpose-built holiday accommodation constructed by Horizon.

It would take workers an hour and 20 minutes to travel the 57 miles from Porthmadog to Wylfa , and an hour and 15 minutes for the 55 miles from Hafan-y-Mor.

Asked for more details, a Horizon spokesman said there were “currently no plans to house workers from the power station development”.

He added: “We’ve not spoken to Bourne Leisure but we are considering our options.

“We know we’ll need to create some new, bespoke accommodation but there is also every opportunity to use facilities that already exist, while making sure we don’t get in the way of the island’s tourism industry.”

Horizon has unveiled plans to improve the road network leading to Wylfa, including new junctions, bypasses and stretches of highway.

It proposes to build around 50 permanent houses on Madyn Farm, Amlwch, to accommodate up to 200 temporary construction workers for four years, before reverting to general housing.

Up to 800 workers could be temporarily accommodated on land near Madyn Farm in housing which would be taken down once the power plant is completed.

Temporary accommodation for up to 4,000 workers could be provided at the former Shell oil depot in Rhosgoch, Amlwch, which would be removed after use.

Another site listed by Horizon, the proposed Land and Lakes development at Holyhead, could accommodate up to 4,000 workers.

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