Plans by Snowdonia Aerospace to build a space port on Llanbedr airfield have raised concerns over flooding.

A local resident, who did not want to be named, told the Cambrian News they were worried about the development of the area with regard to rising sea levels. However, Snowdonia Aerospace said plans are still in the early stages and the flood risk is still being assessed.

Lee Paul, Snowdonia Aerospace’s chief executive officer, said: “A large part of the initial design of the spaceport is on flood land.

“To decrease that we are working with Gwynedd Council and the Welsh Government, to look at opportunities to de-risk the flooding or to carry out works on sea defences in the area to mitigate the issue.”

In September, the Snowdonia Spaceport Development Plan received £500,000 from the UK Space Agency. Mr Paul told the Cambrian News that this funding was being used to “undertake research and a feasibility study to establish the viability and suitability of a space port”.

The feasibility study will hopefully be completed in March and will allow plans to be finalised.

In March 2018, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) also assessed the flood risk of the airfield by conducting a Strategic Flood Consequence Assessment, which concluded that the constraints that flooding presents to the airfield development could be removed by either improving existing NRW flood defences or constructing new defences.

Llanbedr councillors say they would like to discuss the ideas for the airfield with Snowdonia Aerospace.

In response, Mr Paul said: “As soon as we have clarity on these matters and the scheme is looking to go ahead, we will bring that to the community for discussion.”

The project would include a visitor centre, planetarium, observatory and hotel as well as world-class training facilities for astronauts and the aero-medical sector.

Llanbedr councillor Annwen Hughes praised the Spaceport endeavour, saying: “In this day and age, it’s good if it’ll bring in high-paid jobs. They say they’re going to be employing local people. It will be good for the area, not just Llanbedr, but the area beyond it. It will be one of the major employers in Gwynedd, we need something to keep the younger generation in the area.”

A spokesperson for Gwynedd Council said: “This will attract high quality businesses to the site which could create high value jobs in the aerospace industry. This programme of improvement works are within those areas of the site which are designated for development, and are not considered to be at risk from flooding.

“Part of this work will also look at improving the access road to the site, and as a separate matter, the council is looking to construct a bypass to the village of Llanbedr, mainly to address the serious traffic issues which the village has been experiencing for many decades. These works remain in the planning consent phase.”