CATERING vans will be able to operate in two Welsh Government owned woodlands in the Wye Valley but councillors refused permission for a third.
Councillors also limited the permission for sites at Barnets Wood, on the edge of Chepstow, and Whitestone/Bargain Wood at Llandogo in the Wye Valley to a temporary period of three years despite planning officers having recommended allowing standard permission without restriction.
Monmouthshire County Council’s planning committee also rejected the officers’ recommendation to allow a van at the Beacon View parking area, at Trellech, and deferred the application so it can be brought back to their next meeting with reasons for refusal after raising concerns over highway safety due to the small parking area.
All three applications for the vans, which will operate from late March to October, had been submitted by the Welsh Government’s environmental body Natural Resources Wales (NRW) which is responsible for the woodlands and has made applications for around nine sites across Wales.
Planning officer Phil Thomas said the vans will require street trading licences from the council while they will also be issued with licences to operate by NRW which will invite bids for permission to run the catering vans for the sites which are all within the Wye Valley National Landscape, a designated area of outstanding natural beauty.
Its tender process will award a higher score to applicants who propose to use clean energy storage such as solar panels, or batteries, and Mr Thomas said diesel generators wouldn’t be permitted.
NRW will also require the operators to comply with Welsh regulations on single use plastics and it said recyclable or biodegradable food and drink containers should be used while operators will be expected to have recycling bins and be responsible for ensuring sites are tidy and free of litter.
Mr Thomas said the vans are intended to be “ancillary” to the parking areas, rather than a stand alone attractions, and small scale with the committee asked to approve the change of use of the land.
But Mitchell Troy and Trellech councillor Richard John, who objected to the Beacon View application, said he didn’t believe the body should be proposing a catering van.
The Conservative, who in December last year raised his objection to the proposals at the full council meeting, said: “This van is not needed and there is no evidence whatsoever visitors currently regard the absence of a take away food and drink facility as a problem.”
Cllr John he was concerned about litter and the parking area, on higher ground above the road, could “become effectively a drive through”.
His ward colleague, and planning committee member, Conservative Jayne McKenna said there had been 30 objections including from the community council and among concerns she listed was how staff in the van would wash their hands without running water.
“If the staff need to wash their hands the nearest public toilets are in Monmouth which is a 13 mile round trip.”
Cllr McKenna also raised concerns over the size of the parking area with it estimated a catering van could take up three of the only seven spaces.
Labour’s Su McConnell said while she had concerns about some sites she considered the Bargain Wood car park at Llandogo acceptable as it is “large area next to an attratcive children’s play area and it seems to me the provision of food and drink would enhance the experience.”
Conservative Rachel Buckler suggested permission should be limited to two years so the impact could be reviewed as the application would “change the character of this place there’s no question about that.”
Mr Thomas said the committee was entitled to only grant temporary permission and said an application in Caerphilly had been granted for five years, but suggested two years would be too short as NRW would have to award a tender in that time which would only give a limited time to review how the van had operated and its impact.
The committee then agreed to Cllr Buckler’s recommendation of a three year permission which was also granted for the Barnets Wood site.
There were no objections from the council’s highways department to the applications or from the Wye Valley National Landscape officer.
