Plans for demolition of Penrhos Polish village in Gwynedd approved by council
A care village in Gwynedd which provides homes for those from Polish, Welsh, or other backgrounds who need extra support is to be demolished.
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.
The village which is owned and managed by ClwydAlyn Housing Association (CHA), took over from the Polish Housing Society (PHS) Ltd in 2020.
It put a planning application into the local council for permission to demolish all the existing dwellings, meeting rooms, hairdressing salon, launderette and staff offices.
The plan is for new houses to be constructed, but there is no provision in the application for the replacement of the communal facilities or the premises for support staff.
ClwdAlyn, the developers, have told residents they will be able to stay in their homes until new houses are built and nobody will be forced to leave.
A Cyngor Gwynedd spokesperson said: "The Council's Adults, Health and Well-being Department is working in partnership with the Housing Association and Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to develop a residential home for the site, in order to improve and stabilise nursing care within the county and to meet the needs of Gwynedd residents.
"The proposed home will form part of a separate planning application to be submitted to the Planning Committee in due course."
ClwydAlyn said: "We have planned the development in three phases to minimise the disruption to the residents living on site.
"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 committed from the outset that the development of a new care home will form a key part of the plans.
It added: "This is a long-term development for ClwydAlyn, and we'll continue to work with partners, Cyngor Gwynedd and Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, as well as residents and the local community to shape future plans.
"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."
Maria Owsianka, 90, left her home in Warsaw in Poland as a child and is among the elderly residents at Penrhos Polish Village, often referred to as the Polish Home.
She said: "We all came to Penrhos at the end of our lives in the expectation of a safe haven."
"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.
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