Issue - meetings

Construction of new agricultural dwelling (Re-submission)

LOCAL MEMBER: Councillor Elwyn Edwards

Link to relevant background documents

DECISION: To approve the application contrary to the recommendation, subject to the following conditions:

1.    In accordance with the plans.

2.    Five years.

3.    Materials / finishes

4.    Rural enterprise use condition

5.    Restricted to C3 use only.

6.    Landscaping

7.    Biodiversity enhancements.

8.    Details of the boundary fence

9.    A Welsh name for the development

Note

SUDS

Protect the public footpath

Construction of new agricultural dwelling (Resubmission)

Attention was drawn to the late observations form which contained observations from the Biodiversity Unit and Natural Resources Wales

a)    The Development Control Team Leader highlighted that this was a full application for erecting a new agricultural dwelling and detached garage on a plot of land in Parc y Derw Goed, Llandderfel.

The site lay within an elevated position, far outside any recognised development boundary and was therefore a site in open countryside. The site was served by a byway track, and public footpath number 42 Llandderfel ran to the north of the site. The site was within a Special Landscape Area designation, and had been recognised as a Phosphate Special Area of Conservation (SAC). The fields to the south of the site had been recognised as Local Wildlife Sites.

It was explained that the application was a resubmission of application no. C23/0409/04/LL for exactly the same proposal. The application was refused on 17 July 2023 under delegated rights as the Local Planning Authority was not convinced that the proposal met the locational needs for an agricultural dwelling because of its distance from the farm.

A Design and Access Statement, letters of support from NFU Cymru and the Agri Advisor Service, together with a Business Plan from Farming Connect (confidential) were submitted as part of the application.

The application was submitted to the Committee at the local member’s request.

It was reiterated, as a result of the need to preserve and protect the countryside, that very special justification was required to approve the construction of new houses there, and therefore, new dwellings in the countryside were only approved in exceptional circumstances. Those exceptional circumstances under which new dwellings in the countryside may be approved were included in Technical Advice Note 6 (TAN6): Planning for Sustainable Rural Communities - July 2010, prepared by the Welsh Assembly Government.

A Business Plan was submitted as part of the application, prepared by Farming Connect, which confirmed that the applicant had been farming in partnership with his father since 2012. The Business Plan provided the background of the enterprise together with details about the size of the holding, stock numbers, labour requirements and financial details about the enterprise's viability. The proposal would therefore be a second dwelling on an established farm, with the applicant running the farm with his father. Reference was made to the following criteria, noting when considering the need that:

a)  there was a clearly established existing functional need;

b)  the need related to a full-time worker, and did not relate to a part-time requirement;

c)   the enterprise concerned had been established for at least three years, profitable for at least one of them, and both the enterprise and the business need for the job, was currently financially sound, and had a clear prospect of remaining so;

d)  the functional need could not be fulfilled by another dwelling or by converting an existing suitable building that was already on the land holding comprising the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7