PLANS for three holiday lodges at a site near Llanfair Caereinion have been given the go ahead by Powys councillors.
The proposal for the one-bedroom holiday lodges had been submitted to Powys County Council by Nigel Clemens and is for land north east of Henllan Fach Barn at Llangyniew.
The proposal includes sewage treatment plant, car parking and associated works, the site is next to a big caravan park and the River Banwy flows to the east of it.
The application appeared before Powys councillors at a meeting of the Planning committee on Thursday, June 1,1 having been called in by local councillor Jonathan Wilkinson.
Llangyniew community council had discussed the proposal in December and had objected to the application.
This was because of road safety reason and that it would: “place further demand on local water resources, potentially affecting both the quantity and reliability of water supplies for existing residents.”
Planning officer Lorrainne Jenkin had recommended the committee approve the proposal subject to conditions.
Local member Cllr Wilkinson (Conservative – Llangyniew and Meifod) spoke at the meeting and said the road is “very narrow” with signs along it that say it unsuitable for long vehicles and that construction vehicles would struggle to get there.
Cllr Wilkinson also believed the proposal to be “contradictory” to call this a farm development scheme but in “non-agricultural land.”
Llangyniew community councillor Glyn Watkin said that the applicant “does not own” the land where the access to the site is proposed.
Cllr Watkin said: “Therefore how is this feasible?”
Planning agent Gerald Davies of Roger Parry and partners said: “The officer’s report is clear, the principle of development is acceptable, and we are fortunate in Powys that the Local Development Plan (LDP) is very favourable to sustainable and rural tourism, it does not have to be agricultural to be acceptable.
“It’s a very minor scheme and proportionate to the area and different to the caravan park which is adjacent to the development.”
Mr Davies continued: “It is a narrow road; we have narrow roads in Powys.
“If we didn’t allow development just because of narrowness, we wouldn’t allow anything.”
He added that ‘third party” land would not be used in the road widening or traffic passing bays that would be part of the development.
Cllr Huw Williams (Labour – Abercraf and Ystradgynlais) asked for clarity over the highway issues.
Cllr Williams said: “A lot has been said about the narrowness of the road.”
Highways officer Paul Wozencraft said: “We have assessed all of the attributes for highways arrangements and found that traffic speeds were very low at roughly 16 to 20 mph.
“The visibility splay proposal to maximise the visibility by opening up the hedge lines, verge and corner of the building provide enough safety for the prevailing traffic speeds in that area.”
Councillors eventually went to a vote and all 11 unanimously backed the scheme.
