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Pembrokeshire Planning – Town Planning Specialist

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More Planning Appeal Successes in Pembrokeshire & Ceredigion

Posted by on Jul 31, 2013 in Blog, Ceredigion Planning, Pembrokeshire Planning |

In the short space of 1 week ckplanning has won 3 appeals on behalf of clients. Between 10th July and 17th July 2013 Chris Kimpton BA (HONS) Town and Country Planning won the following appeals: 1. The retention of a meditation hut for Jerome Flynn at Trefacwn, Llanrhian in the Pembrokeshire County Council administrative area; 2. The change of use from an existing private workshop to granny flat for Andy Davies of Aberporth in the Ceredigion County Council administrative area; and, 3. The retention of a caravan for Roger Smith at Barry Island Farm, Llanrhian in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park administrative area. The two Llanrhian appeals were dealt with by way of the Informal Hearing process, which allowed an in-depth examination of the relevant issues by the case Inspector and for Chris Kimpton and his clients to explain the background and special circumstances pertaining to their respective cases. The Written Representations procedure does not necessarily allow for a close examination of an appellants case and often quite strong material considerations are not accorded the weight they should be. For example, in Roger Smiths case the National Park did not accept that the planning history of the site and caravan was a significant material consideration. The case Inspector took a completely different viewpoint, particularly in recognising that the National Park had granted a number of temporary personal consents to Roger Smith between 1999 and 2009. In coming to a decision the case Inspector considered that there were sufficient personal circumstances and other material considerations to outweigh National Park planning policy. Chris Kimpton BA (HONS) Town and Country Planning will always consider very carefully the merits of a clients case before advising on an appeal and it is this level of professionalism that is coming to the fore in his appeal cases. Chris also points out that no other planning consultant in the area has anywhere near such a high rate of success at...

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Planning Appeal Success Against Pembrokeshire Coast National Park

Posted by on Jun 27, 2013 in Blog, National Park Planning, Pembrokeshire Planning |

CK Planning has once again been successful in obtaining planning permission for clients who had battled for some time with the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park to obtain planning permission. Andrew and Marlis Malien, who operate Pen Pant Farm just outside Solva, proposed to convert what was an existing, former farm workers cottage on their farm back into a dwelling for their daughter to live in to enable her to take over their farming operation. Andrew and Marlis have owned and operated Pen Pant for 42 years, however they are both beyond retirement age and they want to bring their daughter, Erika, in to take over the running of their long-standing, successful business. The Welsh Assembly Government support succession farming and this was an ideal scenario where the continuity of this family business could be ensured. The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority  failed to accept this point, taking the rather ‘blinkered’ view that the farm did not meet new planning policy and was not financially viable. Fortunately Planning Inspector A.D. Poulter  disagreed with this point, accepting that the farm is financially sustainable. National Park officers even suggested that Erika could live up to 30km away and manage the farm with the help of CCTV camera’s!! So impractical was this suggestion that Dorian Williams of the National Farmers Union appeared at the Hearing to support Andrew and Marlis. Andrew and Marlis say that they cannot thank Chris Kimpton of CK Planning enough for his expert advice and the thoroughly professional way in which he handled this matter on their...

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Pembrokeshire Planning Permission for Commercial Garage in St Davids

Posted by on May 15, 2013 in Blog, Pembrokeshire Planning, Planning Permission |

CK Planning recently obtained full planning permission from the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park for Mr David Ward to operate a commercial car repair garage in St Davids.  Since 2003 the garage had been operating under a number of temporary consents and following professional advice and support from Chris Kimpton of CK Planning a full planning application was prepared and lodged with the National Park. Without full planning permission Mr Ward was unable to grow and develop his business as the temporary consents hindered his ability to obtain the necessary capital investment for staff training in the use of ‘hi-tec’ car systems, the repair and maintenance of electric/hybrid cars, the acquisition of specialist tools and diagnostic equipment and the establishment of an MOT station. Mr Ward comments that ‘without CK Planning’s expert planning experience, knowledge and guidance my business would have been unable to grow – as it is I already employ two local people and can now plan to offer another full time mechanics job to someone else living...

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Pembrokeshire Planning ‘Classics’

Pembrokeshire Planning ‘Classics’

Posted by on Nov 15, 2012 in Blog, Pembrokeshire Planning |

Classic Pembrokeshire Planning responses You can have a holiday home in rural Pembrokeshire but not a family home because there is no bus service. A business has been operating for 42 years and the ageing owners, who are in their 70’s, want to retire and allow their daughter to take it over and live in a former cottage on the site – they were told sorry but due to your ill health the business isn’t viable anymore and anyway she can go and live in the nearest village (where house prices are 3.5 times the cost of renovating the farm cottage). A caravan has on a site for 40 years but suddenly the planners don’t like it and it has to go – the caravan is owned by a 75 yr old man and the consent is personal to him so once he stops using it or passes away it has to go anyway. The fenestration in a proposed new house was deemed to be incongruous with the rest of the street – the rest of the street comprised every conceivable type of window shape, material and size that could ever be imagined. We are not going to support that application for a wind turbine because the owner wants to make money out of it. Our policy promotes affordable homes in rural areas and the open countryside (where there are no buses, schools, shops, doctors, etc, etc) ‘I don’t like that design’ – ‘Why?’ (pause for thought) – ‘Because I don’t.’ ‘That (small) extension will spoil the whole character of the cottage’ – said whilst standing looking at a similar neighbouring cottage that had been extended 3 times and increased in size by 150%. Wind farm proposals submitted by larger companies appear to be profit motivated. To a developer – ‘Why should I support this proposal only to make you more money’. Planning Inspector to planner – ‘Could you point out where the Coast Path is in relation to the appeal site’ Planner straight away points to the east ( it was to the west) Objectors letter to a wind turbine ‘The noise will be even worse than his...

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Getting Planning Right in Pembrokeshire

Getting Planning Right in Pembrokeshire

Posted by on Nov 13, 2012 in Blog, Pembrokeshire Planning |

To get a Pembrokeshire planning application through the system in Pembrokeshire now requires a considerable amount of professional expertise and assistance. There is, for a start, a whole raft of requirements to meet even before a planning application can be what is termed ‘ validated’ – that means the scope of material submitted in support of the application must meet a list of standard requirements. Failure to meet any of the listed requirements will result in a request from the planning authority to supply that information within a set number of days (normally 14 working days) and if the stated timeline is not met the applicant can then either withdraw the application (and start all over again) or have it cancelled and returned by the planning authority. These planning requirements (or criteria) are clearly and comprehensively outlined in Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) documents which are available from the local planning departments and their web-sites in Pembrokeshire. If an applicant disagrees that more information is required written justification can be put to the planning department setting out the reasons why that specific information is not appropriate in that case. If the planners agree that the information is not necessary to determine the application it will be validated. If an applicant does not agree with the planners requirement for further information there is a right to challenge the decision not to validate an application. This is a right of appeal under Section 78 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, the ground being non-determination of the application within the 8-week determination period. However, a strong word of caution here as such an appeal would have to be lodged before the application is returned or cancelled. Also, the appeal process can take around 10 weeks for a decision to be issued and that is essentially another 2.5 months of ‘dead-time’ time taken out of a project. For expert guidance on planning application preparation, presentation and processing ckplanning is the areas foremost professional planning consultant when it comes to getting a planning application validated in Pembrokeshire or...

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Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Planning Policy Alert

Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Planning Policy Alert

Posted by on Oct 24, 2012 in Blog, National Park Planning |

Site accessibility is now being used by Pembrokeshire Coast National Park planning officers as a reason to refuse new development and outbuilding conversions. Policy 7 of the Local Development Plan (LDP) contains qualifying criteria which refers to ‘accessibility to the Centres identified in the hierarchy’.  This requirement has been interpreted as a site having to be within 1km of a named Centre identified in the LDP, or the site being more than 1km away from a centre but within 1km of a bus service (however, this is where more qualifying criteria come in!) or the site is within 1km of a bus route with 5 or more return journeys a day. However, if a site is within 1km of a bus route with less than 5 return journeys a day it is deemed appropriate for holiday letting or, incredibly, affordable housing. Further ‘concessions’ are made for affordable housing if an application involves a building of architectural or historic interest or is simply for affordable housing, in which case the site does not have to be accessible. What we are therefore now seeing is a policy presumption being pursued by planning officers against much needed open market housing in the Pembrokeshire National Park, in favour of holiday homes and, more amazingly, affordable homes in isolated locations. Surely the whole idea of affordable home provision is to build close to shops, services, schools, bus routes, doctors etc so that the occupants are not further disadvantaged by finding themselves in a totally isolated rural location. Yet another example of the way planners in Pembrokeshire are working against the economic and social well-being of the areas...

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