A new climbing wall and gym is set to be developed at a former camping and outdoors equipment store in Eryri National Park.

Proposals to develop the former Y Warws (The Warehouse) building at Beddgelert in Gwynedd have been accepted by the Eryri National Park Authority.

The store is where the company called Gelert was founded in 1975 by Alastair and Jane Langdon, who wanted to ensure people who enjoy camping could get everything they needed in one place.

In 2013, the Gelert business was acquired by Sports Direct International Group – the UK’s biggest sports goods company – owned by Mike Ashley.

The Beddgelert outlet is thought to have closed about seven years ago with the loss of jobs.

Eryri National Park Authority planners have recently agreed to a new plan for the empty building.

It approved an application for a change of use to an indoor climbing wall and gym facility.

The application, submitted by Trystan Jones-Morris, stated that the development of the building in this way could provide one full-time and four part-time roles for the area.

Plans stated that the new gym and climbing wall would be open from 10am – 8pm all week including on Sundays and bank holidays.

The site is located on the left bank of the Afon Colwyn.

Just 20m from the watercourse, it had gathered some concerns from Natural Resources Wales who had called for more information over the plans, including over drainage.

It had required that the planners decide specifically whether or not the application would increase the volume of foul discharge into waterways.

The Afon Glaslyn also flowed through the village, and passed through the Coedydd Derw, a Special Area of Conservation, it had noted.

It also stated: “Whilst the village of Beddgelert has a history of flooding from both the adjacent river Colwyn and the river Glaslyn, the most recent event was on July 25, 2020.

“We do not have any records of the application site having suffered from flooding.

“However, the Flood Map for Planning, which accounts for the impacts of climate change, shows flood risk to the site.

“There is always an inherent risk of flooding associated with development directly on the bank of a watercourse.”

The applicants had carried out a flood consequences assessment and described flood and drainage mitigation measures.

They included placing electric sockets 450mm above floor level, the use of removable flood barriers on external doors and use of foul drains fitted with a one-way anti-back flow and also signing up to mobile / email flood alerts.

The applicants claimed that the assessment demonstrated that any flood risk “could be managed to meet advice and recommendations by NRW and the Welsh Government”.

They had considered the location of the building on the left bank of the Afon Colwyn, and considered the flood risk as “very low”.

The application also noted it was for a change of use of an existing commercial premises saying there would be “no increased risks posed by this application”.