A GWYNEDD cattle and sheep farming business is hoping to diversify its activities by creating a bespoke holiday park on land at Pwllheli.
Cyngor Gwynedd has received a request for a change of use to site 12 luxury lodges on agricultural land at Y Ffor, off the A499 near Pwllheli.
The application has been made by Mr PD Jones, of Glan Y Wern Farm, Llanfrothen, Penrhyndeudraeth.
The plans say the applicants are a farming family raising sheep and cattle and that the business focuses on farming 280 acres of land and a further 100 acres on a farm business tenancy at Glan Y Wern Farm.
The application site is described as being on a main tourist route and in a popular holiday area and concerns 0.85 square hectares of land at Y Ffor.
The proposal notes the application has been “motivated” by a wish to retain and improve the farming family’s enterprise and to provide “employment for the next generation”.
“This will avoid the fragmentation of farms, families, and the migration of workers, away from agriculture,” the design statement says.
“With increasing pressures on agricultural incomes, rural diversification can provide the resources needed to sustain these enterprises.
“Diversification is now an important element in making farms more profitable and viable.
“This proposal will ensure that the farm remains viable and will also provide funds to sustain and maintain the farming business, its land and the landscape.
“It is also hoped the scheme could also generate additional spends in the local economy of £308,000 on an annual basis, and for a 30 week season, £25,708 per lodge.”
The plans also claim “the quality of the accommodation proposed would help raise the standards of holiday accommodation in the region”.
They describe the holiday park as providing “12 bespoke luxury holiday lodges, manufactured from timber and stained in a palette of muted environmental colours to blend fully into the natural environment”.
Twin parking areas would also be provided for each of the lodges.
The lodges would be of “pre-fabricated moveable structures” and it notes if necessary the units could “easily be removed” and the site returned to agricultural purposes “with minimal works”.
The site is described as a “minimal area” currently used for sheep and cattle grazing.
The lodges are to be sited on “a well screened low lying site” set against a backdrop of mature, expanded hedgerows.
The site’s access also links directly to the A499 Pwllheli to Caernarfon road.
