Penrhos Polish Village: 90-year-old woman who fled the Nazis fears being 'forced out of her home'

  • ITV Wales' reporter Joanne Gallacher spoke to residents in the Polish village which became a nest for refugees after the second World War.

A woman who fled the Nazis "did not expect to be forced out of her home yet again" from a proposed housing development.

Maria Owsianka, 90, left her home in Warsaw in Poland as a child and now she fears she will have to move into a new estate without the support and communal facilities at the Penrhos Polish Village in Gwynedd.

Mrs Owsianka is among the elderly residents at Penrhos Polish Village, often referred to as the Polish Home.

Mrs Owsianka said: "I moved here with my husband five years ago to live closer to my family."

She said: "We all came to Penrhos at the end of our lives in the expectation of a safe haven."

A planning application will be considered on 23 October for permission to demolish all the existing dwellings, meeting rooms, hairdressing salon, launderette and staff offices.

New houses may be constructed, but there is no provision in the application for the replacement of the communal facilities or the premises for support staff.

This innovative care village, which now provides homes for those from Polish, Welsh, or other backgrounds who need extra care, would be replaced with a housing scheme.

Mrs Owsianka said: "I moved here with my husband five years ago to live closer to my family. We have a lovely terraced bungalow which is perfect for our needs.

Maria Owsianka, 90, left her home in Warsaw in Poland as a child and now she fears she will have to move into a new estate.

"I’m devastated that this planning application proposes the demolition of the village. There are people in Penrhos Polish Village who, as children, were evicted from their homes by the Soviets and sent to Siberia.

"I was thrown out of my home, aged 11, with what I could carry, while the Nazis burned Warsaw to the ground. We all came to Penrhos at the end of our lives in the expectation of a safe haven.

"We did not expect to be forced out of our homes yet again. We’ve been saying this for two years, but Clwyd Alyn haven’t listened.

"We hope that Gwynedd councillors will listen now. There’s plenty of room to build new homes on the site of the old barracks which haven’t been lived in for years, without demolishing the newer units where people still live.

This innovative care village currently provides homes for those from Polish, Welsh and other backgrounds.

"If we lose these facilities and services, as we will if this development goes ahead, we will have lost all that is good about this place, which was lovingly built up over 70 years."

Gwynedd Council has recently published a document setting out its Vision and Priorities for the redevelopment of the site.

The vision is to maintain and build on the existing ethos of the Polish Village and develop the site as a much needed community environment to meet the care needs of older people and people with disabilities.

Campaigners say its proposed new care home and a range of communal facilities such meeting spaces, shop, therapy rooms are a "commendable vision".

But Mrs Owsianka and others believe that this vision has yet to be translated into a "firm plan" and funding has yet to be secured to deliver the care home and associated facilities.

Penrhos Polish Village is owned and managed by ClwydAlyn Housing Association (CHA).

Penrhos Polish Village in Pwllheli was founded in 1949 by the Polish Housing Society Ltd. It housed exiled Polish airmen and soldiers who remained in the UK following World War Two.

Penrhos Polish Village is owned and managed by ClwydAlyn Housing Association (CHA) who took over from the Polish Housing Society (PHS) Ltd in 2020. PHS had owned, operated and developed the site for 70 years.

A Cyngor Gwynedd spokesperson said: "We can confirm that this matter will be presented to the Planning Committee on Monday, 23 October.

“As a local planning authority, Cyngor Gwynedd treats each planning application individually and on its merits, considering all relevant planning issues and making decisions on applications in accordance with relevant local and national planning policies."

Executive Director of Development at ClwydAlyn, Craig Sparrow said: "Due to the age and construction of the existing homes, they need significant investment to bring them up to standard, the current homes are not designed to meet people’s changing needs and are not energy efficient.

"We have planned the development in three phases to minimise the disruption to the residents living on site."

He added: "Residents can stay in their existing homes until the new homes are ready and then decide what they would like to do. Nobody will be forced to move.

"We are committed to preserving the Polish and Welsh heritage of the site, the existing Church, Freedom Cross and walled garden will be protected.

"It’s understandable that some residents are apprehensive about the redevelopment,  but we are passionate about retaining the strong sense of community that currently exists at Penrhos as the site moves into the next chapter of its history."

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