Villagers in a picturesque hamlet in Wales fear the local landscape will be ruined if an ex-restaurateur wins permission to put 47 shipping containers at an old school.
Former school site controversy
Fu Lee has taken ownership of Ysgol Gymuned Dwyran (Dwyran Community School) in Dwyran, Anglesey, after it closed during a merger with three other schools. He intends to turn it into a self-storage facility, having abandoned plans for holiday lets because the site sits on a flood plain.
However, locals say the finished result would resemble an 'industrial estate' in a village of fewer than 700 people and have called on Anglesey Council to refuse the application. Mr Lee, however, says he is 'just a normal working class lad trying to make a few quid on the side'.
Details of the proposal
Plans show Mr Lee wants to demolish 1980s extensions, create 11 parking spaces, and line the shipping containers behind the school, where they will be fenced in for security. Environmental concessions include bird and bat boxes, as well as new trees and hedgerows to be planted in a playing field north of the site. Mr Lee claims the planting will obscure the containers from view, but he must still face down detractors who feel the project ill-fits the tiny village.
The businessman, who gave up his restaurant business in nearby Caernarfon in 2017, told the Daily Post: 'I would love to open a cafe or something similar but as it's in a flood plain there are very few potential uses for the site. When considering options, my planning consultant suggested self-storage, for which there is growing demand. Originally the plan was to keep the entire building with just seven containers – but this simply wasn't cost-effective as a business.'
He intends to use the original, 'lovely' school building for letting or storage, preventing it from falling into disrepair.
Local concerns
But locals fear the town will be spoiled by the sight of the shipping containers, of which all but 12 are 5.9m long, 2.3m wide and 2.5m tall. A handful are roughly half the length at 2.9m long. There are also concerns that they could float away if the area experiences heavy rainfall. Mr Lee claims the site itself has never flooded. Nevertheless, he has committed to bolting the containers to a subterranean concrete base and fastening them together to ensure they will not float away should the worst-case scenario unfold.
Residents in Dwyran remain concerned about why a village of roughly 660 people needs self-storage in the first place, with one branding it a 'sodding carbuncle'. Some have called for Mr Lee to work with the community on the project, considering a playground on the playing field or turning the school itself into a community hall. Others say he should sell up altogether.
One local branded the lock-up an 'alien concept' in a post on a community Facebook group. Another wrote that 47 containers would be 'an eyesore... not fitting in with the village.'
Mr Lee, ever the businessman, has said he is open to a sale: 'If someone wants to buy the site, allowing me to make a small profit, then just show me the money.'
Locals had until Friday to raise any objections to the plans. A decision will be made by an Anglesey Council planning officer at a later date.
