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Pembrokeshire Planning – Town Planning Specialist

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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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Planning for Wind Turbines in Pembrokeshire

Planning for Wind Turbines in Pembrokeshire

Posted by on Oct 15, 2012 in Blog, Town Planning, Wind Turbine Planning |

Obtaining planning permission for a wind turbine between 15m and 50m in height is getting increasingly more difficult. Pembrokeshire County Council and Pembrokeshire Coast National Park planning officers are now requesting much more detailed landscape assessments for what were, until recently, considered to be relatively small wind turbines. Initial, informal advice was that for a wind turbine under 30m a landscape impact assessment was not required. This was soon superseded when Pembrokeshire County Council planners commissioned a report to provide guidelines for landscape and visual impact assessment requirements. This report was published in August 2012 and Table 2 contains specific guidance on the levels of assessment required for three categories of wind turbine size – less than 15m – between 15m and 50m – and over 50m. At present most wind turbine proposals are falling within the 15m to 50m category. Planning for Wind Turbines In summary, a wind turbine of between 15m and 50m will require the following levels of assessment:- Wireframes and/or photomontages for a limited number of key viewpoints; A consideration of LANDMAP information and potential the Seascape Assessment of Wales; Consideration of the landscape and visual amenity of the are wherein the wind turbine is to be located; A Cumulative Impact assessment taking into account all other existing, consented and proposed wind turbines within a 15km to 17.km radius – commonly referred to as the Zone of Theoretical Visibility (or ZTV). To satisfy the above information requirements ckplanning ltd in association with Ynni Ltd now have their own software and specialist camera equipment which enables us to produce wireframes, photomontages and ZTV’s. We also have the GPS Co-ordinates for every existing, consented and proposed wind turbine in Pembrokeshire. Our combined planning skills allowed us to meet a short-notice request from Pembrokeshire County Council planning officers for a detailed landscape impact assessment from one of our clients, Mr Chris Downs of Hayscastle, whose application for a Xzeres 442SR Wind Turbine was about to be refused planning permission. Mr Downs has now been granted planning permission for his wind turbine, which will be the second one on his farm. The level of expert, cost-effective landscape and planning...

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